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| "Undiscovered Genius of the Mississippi Delta" (1983) by Jean-Michel Basquiat |
She cites Gary who says he’s not going to do any work and Gary’s teacher who says she won’t give up on him. Quoting Collins, Dweck writes, "If you sit there leaning against this wall all day, you are going to end up leaning on something or someone all your life. And all that brilliance bottled up inside you will go to waste" (203).
In the example, Gary became a wunderkind. Earlier in the text, however, Dweck warned against telling kids they are brilliant because that makes them afraid of making mistakes.
When is it OK for a growth-minded person to praise someone else's talents and abilities and when is such praise likely to be counterproductive?
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ReplyDeleteAlthough it appears that Dweck contradicts herself by using this example, I really feel as if the brilliance used by the teacher and the brilliance described by Dweck are meant to serve distinct roles. The teacher knows that Gary has never been held to prestigious standards so he has no value of self-worth or purpose to do his work. Dweck, on the other hand, states that kids who have been praised all their life will feel obligated to do tasks as perfectly as possible which ends up adding additional stress. To break the matter down further, the teacher never praises the kid but acknowledges he has the willpower to succeed but only if he tries. I do not feel like the teacher was praising the student but rather encouraging (or warning) him- and it worked! To conclude, I believe it is only okay for a growth-minded person to praise the talents and abilities of another person if it is constructive and meaningful (“thank you for trying your best”) and not okay when praise ignores the efforts of a person (“you’re the best”).
ReplyDelete-Chance Zernicek
I like the way you outlined the differences in the “praise backgrounds” of the two types of students that you mentioned. Knowing a person’s background is a useful tool in finding the best way to encourage and cultivate their growth. In Gary’s case, hearing that brilliance was “bottled up inside” of him did not make him fear coming short of it. The words gave him hope to know someone believed he had potential to grow. The teacher did not necessarily say “you are brilliant” without him giving any effort, but her statement implied that he could be if Gary would DO something to divulge it.
Delete-Brittany West
I agree with both of you. My mom is a teacher so I have seen some of this in person. Like Brittany said, knowing a persons background is useful when trying to encourage students. My mom is a very welcoming person and students seem to open up very easily to her. I asked her what she thought about this question and she agreed with you Chance about being constructive with your praise. She also said that sometimes students really just need some type of simple celebration for what they learned, or did.
DeleteI agree with all of the above! I feel that there are no hard and fast rules in life and therefore looking at the specific situation is always helpful, as pointed out in Chance’s response. However, in general, I feel the difference between praise for the sake of praise and praise for the sake of accomplishment outlines the distinction of the growth mindset. You might acknowledge one’s innate ability, but save any heavy compliments for accomplishments.
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ReplyDeleteI can’t say reading this book has helped me to decide where praise will be counterproductive. Two years ago, my daughter wanted to participate in the 2nd/3rd grade spelling bee. She was told by her teacher that no 2nd grader had ever won. I told my daughter that if she worked hard that she would be able to win, because it’s not about what grade you are in it’s how much you practice. We practiced every night, she wrote the words, knew the definitions, practiced putting them into sentences and she spelled the words out loud. She won, had her name in the paper, made school history. This last year she participated again. However, she no longer thought that she had to practice because she had won it last year. People at school kept telling her she was sure to win. She didn’t, she placed 3rd in the competition. I became very discouraged when after the competition she looked at me and said “3rd is pretty good for not studying”. I didn’t know what to say but felt broken that, that is what she took from this experience.
ReplyDelete-Heather Swan
There is a fine line between motivating people and wrongly praising them. I too am wondering when it is okay and when it is not. I think your encouragement helped get your daughter to the first place in the spelling bee. It's peculiar how success affects people. We see people lose the need to train after a win over and over again. I would remain positive, it often takes a loss for people to realize how critical training can be.
DeleteTessa Neeley
There are two different kinds of praise: one that praises the child's ability, and one that celebrates the child's effort. Dweck discusses in chapter 3 the dangers of praising children's talent and conducts an experiment between two groups of children, complimenting the two groups on either ability or effort. Interestingly enough,after the testing is over, Dweck states, "So telling children they're smart, in the end, made them feel dumber and act dumber, but claim they were smarter," (74). She explains that children that are commended for their ability live with the fear of failure, and in order to keep that praise, they will go as far as lie.
ReplyDeleteThis can cause stress among children who need to learn it is about the work being put in to the project, and not just the admiration of others. I myself have felt the pressure of being the "intelligent" one, but not quite living up to the standards of others. Giving kids appraisal is not necessarily a bad thing, but applauding them for the wrong part of the process can lead to a damaging view of how things should be done. Would you rather your child lie to you and you think they were doing good, or know that they were doing badly and help them fix it?