Journal Entry 1
Over the course of this previous week, reflecting back on what I learned about jobs, intelligence, value, and mindsets, I believe the most important and interesting was about fixed and growth mindsets. After learning about true and successful intelligence, and what it really means to be smart, I've re-evaluated my previous learning and educational experiences and thought about what it really means to be intelligent. Thanks to the lectures given in class, they have really opened my eyes to the unknown about what school really does to young minds, and what we go through. One particular topic I remember was when my professor said how the education system is really setting us for the worst and how we're all “screwed” when
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We should welcome failure as an opportunity to do better, failing at something is not the end, like Professor Hoyo said, to many of us who have been told, “you're so smart” instead of, “good job, you're a great hard worker”, failure seems to discourage us and scare us. We don't want to disappoint the people around us and let them think less of us because we failed at something or let them think we're not smart anymore. When I heard this, I automatically knew what she was saying was true, because I have been through it before. When I got home that day, the words still fresh in my mind, I automatically told my six year old sister, “Good job Viviane, keep up the hard work”, I said it out of nowhere and she was confused, but I didn't want her to be like me and push away failure. I want to change her mindset and I don't want her to think she has a fixed amount of intelligence when she grows up. I want her to be able to see failure as a way of learning and set the pace for growing. She needs to know, as well as myself, that we have the capacity to grow intellectually and increase our knowledge through effort and hard
That exact statement makes me or any reader feel that failure doesn’t always have to be perceived to be negative. Failure can improve personal growth. We are always scared out the outcome failure will bring, but that is the silver lining for our personal growth. If we concentrate more on the effort we put into a certain task, we can grow by the steps we take along the way. Anyone can succeed, no matter their
Through our class discussions of education we came across this quote by Joseph Sobran, an American journalist and writer who spent a great amount of his career working for the National Review Magazine, "In 100 years we have gone from teaching Latin and Greek in high school to teaching Remedial English in college." When asked to critically think about the meaning of this quote I concluded that our educational standards have been lowered over the years and that students in America are not as intelligent as they once were in previous years. These two thoughts brought me to the questions, what does it mean to be educated or intelligent and who gets to decide. When reflecting emotionally on how this quote made me feel I realized it made me feel
We were not born with the ability to do everything and we must allow ourselves to take our lessons as we go and learn from them. In my life there are many things that I have learned, whether it be from the trial and error of working on vehicles to me submitting an uncited English paper. We are taught from the moment we are born what failure is, we are asked to do things as simple as to say a word and we are told that is not correct. Even though that example is in the context of teaching, we still are being taught what it feels like to be told we are doing something wrong. Failure is something that we become so familiar with it becomes a natural view, seeing someone attempt to throw paper in the trash and they miss; fail or a failure as big as Chernobyl and everything in between, we are immediately taught to look down on what falls into the category of
A famous quote by Martin Luther King states “The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education.” The two articles “Hidden Intellectualism” and “Blue Collar Brilliance” both emphasis the author's opinion on the qualifications and measurements of someone's intelligence. “Hidden Intellectualism” focuses on students or younger people who have trouble with academic work because, they are not interested in the topic. Today, in schools students are taught academic skills that are not very interesting, the author mentions this is why children are not motivated in schools. The main viewpoint of this article is that schools need to encourage students
let the tragedies in her life cripple her. Instead it strengthens her. Through questioning and
Through decades of research, studies have confirmed that the mindset can have a powerful effect on individual outcome whether in school or at the workplace. In her, article “Brainology”, Carol Dweck valid arguments as to why the possession of a fixed mindset and constant praising are recipes for a disastrous life. Looking back at my education experience, I realize that most of the concepts discussed by the author applied in my life in one way or the other. While approaching education with a growth mindset enables one to put dedication and effort leading to success, approaching education with a fixed mindset limits one capability and consequently leads to lack of effort.
Ever since I became literate, literacy relied on as an important life skill to the point where I would challenge other kids to see who appeared smarter. But I've grown up to learn that obsessing over intelligence has not and will not make me any smarter. This relates similarly to one scholar, Cathleen Schine, who claims she is an illiterate to the world due to her poor choices of obsessing how smart she is, but she learned to control and outgrow the phase while she had the chance to in her article “I was A Teenage Illiterate”. Cathleen would carry intelligent and authentic books, but she only understood 10% of a classic novel and ended up developing into the 90% as she grew up (“I was a Teenage Illiterate”). This goes with the fact that as
Success and failure seem to be pretty distinct opposites, but many times the differences between success and failure aren’t as obvious as we may think them to be. Sometimes a failure can be turned into a success if you are willing to look back at them, and are open to learning from them. Many times, one’s attitude toward a failure can determine whether or not anything is learned from it. Those who remain upbeat and positive after a failure may be able to get something out of it, but those who just don’t think about it and ignore it won’t get anything from it.
And if it is true that the lessons we take from failure can be fundamental to later success then I am right. This is where my path to success really begins. It is never late to start again. Small things that aren’t so small can have a big repercussion in someone's life. We as human beings need to learn how to be more loving, respectful and compassionate. I am so proud to be who I am today because of this past experiences. I believe almost everybody has had a time in their lives in which they failed, nobody is perfect. Failure indeed can be fundamental to later success, but the expectations of success are not what people think, at least for me, but I certainly know I'm not
In the essay Mike Rose challenges the view that the amount of schooling one has achieved is the degree of intelligence by one should be measured. He describes the generalizations thought about people when it comes to how education relates to intelligence. He details his experiences growing up observing his mother as a waitress in restaurants and how she found fulfillment in the work she did. The way she was able to not only memorize customer orders but to anticipate their emotional needs shows a unique intelligence. He also details his Uncle Joe’s work in an auto manufacturer and how his intelligence saw him through to promotions. From his examples growing up with blue-collar workers, it shaped his opinion of how much grit and intelligence is required of them.
Dweck’s view contradicts Isaacson’s because Isaacson believes in intelligence being an innate quality. Dweck however, defines intelligence as how individuals continue to push and persevere despite the several setbacks they encounter. Dweck’s studies show two types of mindsets; growth and fixed. Isaacson’s article leans more towards the fixed mindset rather than to the growth, or ideal mindset. Dweck also focuses more on the process than the final result as she holds learning and hard work in higher regard than the end result.
A person will be told once in their lives that the smartest student is the one who has straight A’s in all his or her classes. Now a day, however, the smartest student can be textbook savvy, but have a hard time thinking critically, or debating about a situation at work or school. In “Hidden Intellectualism” by Gerald Graff, the author suggests that intellectualism should be measured by how a person is able to bring thoughtful questions about any topic, regardless of how simple or difficult it is. In order to portray this, the author effectively appeals to the audience about his topic by first, using his personal experience; secondly, advocating for a different approach to be taken in the classroom; and lastly,
Failure can cause a torrent of mixed emotions and thoughts. One can begin to doubt their motives for even attempting to succeed at a certain task. Some people may choose to give up after failure, but there are a select few who rise up to the occasion and move forward to try and succeed no matter how many tries it takes. By overcoming those difficult moments in life, it gives a person a sense of accomplishment and pride and that alone is a beautiful thing.
Failure is apart of life, it can make or break a person. When a person experiences a type of failure it is now up to them to see how they respond. They can choose the high road, and become a stronger person for it. Then they can choose the low road, the easy way out. The easy way out is never a good choice. It can lead only to destruction. The high road is the right choice to take when responding to failure. It will lead down a path of success. Jessica Lahey’s article, “When Success Leads to Failure” is an article that shows how kids are experiencing failure. Lahey says that, “these kids have a fear for failure, and that they have given up natural loves for learning. They are scared of not being successful”(Lahey). The truth is life is hard there will be failure. There is nothing in this world that comes easy to anyone.