James Hamblin: The Impact Of Calling Children Smart

Most students learn by constructing knowledge based on an engaged learning process rather than by absorbing knowledge from passive sources. The diversity of student backgrounds, abilities and learning styles makes each person unique in the way he or she reacts to information. The intersection of diverse student backgrounds and active learning needs a comfortable, positive environment in which to take root. Dr. King continues by explaining, “Education which stops with efficiency may prove the greatest menace to society. The most dangerous criminal may be the man gifted with reason, but with no morals.” From back then to today’s society, kids are failing because they lack those morals that they need to succeed.

What successful students do differently that makes them so smart without much effort? The answer to these questions is they study smarter not harder. A science journalist Benedict Carey in his book 'How we learn'

Failure usually leads to three kinds of reactions in choosing of goals: a) Avoiding the situation which has led to failure - As we have seen, those who do poorly in school dropout much more often than those who are successful. b) Lowering the aspiration level - The student who has aspired for A’s but gotten C’s learns from experience to accept C’s, becomes pleasantly surprised by an occasional, and no longer expects an A. c) Maintaining levels of aspiration inconsistent with failure - Raining the goals or keeping them the same. Here we have students who do only fair work in their course but have high vocational ambitions. Aware that many colleagues do better work than they, they still aspire to professions which require a high standard of school success which they simply cannot

There are three types of people in the world; those who are street smart, those who are book smart, and those who are a strange but effective combination of the two. Gerald Graff explains in his essay “Hidden Intellectualism,” that “…schools and colleges might be at fault for missing the opportunity to tap into such street smarts and channel them into good academic work” (Graff). Graff is correct. In his argument, the combination of street smart and book smart can yield a better academic understanding. In Tonari No Kasibutsu-Kun, also known as The Monster Next to Me by Robiko, Robiko is able to support Graff’s claim on how “street smart [can] channel them into good academic work,” through the characters Mizutani Shizuku and Yoshida Haru (Graff).

In the article, “Brainology: Transforming Students Motivation to Learn” by Carol S. Dweck, she explains the different mindsets, which are, fixed and growth. According to Dweck, a student with a fixed mindset believes that they can only learn so much. A student with a growth mindset believes that intelligence is achieved through determination and hardwork. The way parents are praising their children is really affecting their confidence in academics. The mindset I am is fixed because when I get stuck on something I tend to give up easier than people with a growth mindset.

All of those three reasons could and will result in success. Almost any child would work hard for cash. Those are some reasons why kids should get paid for good grades. First of all, students should get paid for having good grades because money for grades provides real, career-like rewards. Hers is a quote from a website called GreatSchools.org.

It is also not healthy, mentally and physically, for our kids to be brainwashed by so many ads. Because of their lack of knowledge and experience, young children cannot understand the persuasive intent of advertising and see through schemes used by advertisers. Children are born with a very trusting nature, so they tend to believe what they see and hear. A child has a very limited attention span, advertising pitches have been shorten to deliver the message in 10 to 15 seconds .This enough time to leave the commercial 's message imprinted in the child 's mind. According to a research, children aged two to five are not able to tell the difference between regular TV programs and commercials.

High achievers are very similar to that of a gifted student as it relates to the cognitive aspect of learning. While they exhibit less interest for certain topics than other students, they seem to master concepts at a faster pace than others and sometimes at a higher percentile. Gifted students may appear to be self -directed in the sense that they take initiative to complete task with their peers. This can sometimes have a positive influence on other students due to the overly complex/abstract thoughts of the gifted child. The curiosity and self-motivation sets the gifted learner apart from high achievers.

Failure is an inevitable part of life, even for the most successful people on the planet. In fact, it's a necessary step on the path for success. So, if the purpose of our schools these days is to equip our children with the tools necessary to succeed then why are we not teaching them to fail? We grow up with this distorted view of the world where failure is not supposed to happen and when it does it means we’re doing something wrong, but that's not the case. Because failure is not the opposite of success, failure is a part of success.

You, Your Toddler and the Power of Positive Reinforcement We all know that toddlers seek attention in the most unbelievable ways, but how to know when enough is enough and how to encourage positive behavior and set positive values in your toddler’s life? Every parent faces certain challenges when it comes to their child’s behavior. Whenever your toddler comes up with a new idea of how to make your day harder, just remember that there are always powerful and magical ways to set them on the right path and teach them valuable lessons. Every children asks for attention, and since they usually aren’t aware of the acceptable limits of strange behavior, they tend to show disobedience and start misbehaving in an anti-social manner. However, you mustn’t panic and forget that this is perfectly normal, and when this is the case with your toddler, it’s your time to take the situation in your own hands and feel the power of the positive reinforcement.