Dweck On Parenting

I agree with Dweck’s views on, fixed and growth mindset, and I feel that her observations and studies support her opinion proving her correct. Growing up, I always felt that my dad was too “strict” as most kids would say, but after maturing I realized that was just his way of parenting my siblings and I. Dweck stated in the text “To often nowadays praise is given to students who are putting forth effort, but not learning in order to make them feel good at the moment: ‘Great effort! You tried your best!’. She’s saying that kids are praised for just getting by which isn’t benefiting the kids themselves at all. My dad feels the same exact way and that’s how I was raised. Whether it was a sport, school etc., just doing enough to get by was never

I always thought my dad was just being mean when I couldn’t go outside with my friends or go where I wanted unless my work was done. It just didn’t seem fair to me that I was having to miss out to do school work. But my dad being strict about school work instilled the value of education in me. As I continued to grow, I would listen to my friends talk about how little work they needed to do in order to just barely pass. And these were the same friends who were later asked about the material but had no clue what they had been taught. Sure they put forth enough effort to pass, and when the teacher handed out C’s, she’d say “Good job!” and everything seemed fine. But two weeks later when she would test them on this material, they had no clue what she was talking about because they never learned the information. I’m thankful for what my dad did when I was younger; making me take advantage of every educational opportunity, forcing me to study when I didn’t want to. Not only was I praised in that moment for putting forth the effort and doing well, but I was praised each time I could recall what I had learned and applied it where needed.

My dad’s motto and strict mindset about education molded me into the exemplary high school student that I was. If it wasn’t for all the hard work I wouldn’t have graduated at the top of my class. I would’ve never learned to not give up when things get rough. I probably would have settled for less. Dweck’s opinion on fixed and growth mindset is great in my eyes, and she helped me understand it a lot better than before. “The Growth mindset was intended to help close achievement gaps not hide them.” Dweck