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People with fixed mindsets do not respond well to situations they do not
immediately understand, and therefore usually try to avoid having to
change either what they do or what they think. Their continual need for
self justification does not mean that they are not good and likeable
people, only that they are not able to be comfortable in finding their
rightful place in situations that involve a great deal of change. Since
today’s world is producing ever more such situations, their stress level
is likely to continue increasing during the foreseeable future, and it
would therefore benefit them to learn how to change to a growth-oriented
mindset.
Everyone interested in education should read Dweck’s book and figure out
how to apply its wisdom, either as a parent or as a teacher, to helping
learners shift from fixed mindsets to growth-oriented ones. That is
because the traditional education that prevails today virtually
guarantees that the majority of students will end up with fixed
mindsets. Classroom experiences tend to measure students against
arbitrary standards, showing too little respect for their personal
agendas. This makes them feel that they have to struggle to survive in
an alien society, instead of trying to develop their own unique talents
so that they will most effectively help make the world a better place.
People with fixed mindsets have let others set their standards and
values for them. Most classroom experiences, as well as most job and
social experiences, put pressure on individuals to conform to values
determined externally by a society in which people are constantly
judging one another. The result is that our society defines itself
almost entirely in terms of values that “other people” think are
important, and has little room for original ideas or radically
different, but possibly valuable, points of view. That makes it harder
to respond effectively to the new demands of globalization and rapid
technological innovation.
This tendency for contemporary society to make most of its citizens
inflexible may be one of the main reasons we now find ourselves living
out the Abilene Paradox, which, briefly stated, tells us that groups, in
deciding what to do, may often settle on an agreed-upon activity or
direction that no member of the group originally would have found
desirable.
Strong leaders who can define the issues for us in ways that encourage
growth and change are greatly needed at a time when people with
growth-oriented mindsets are in short supply.
One such person is Erin Brockovich, who in Take it From Me shares
her experience of how a dyslexic failure in school with a soap opera
life could originate and see to its conclusion one of the most powerful
actions for social change that has happened in recent times. Here are a
few sentences that show how powerfully growth-oriented a person she is:
“I’ve never been afraid to say ‘I don't know,’ but I’ve also never been
afraid to try to find out what it is I’m trying to understand.” (p. 116)
“I remember something a teacher once said to my class in high school,
that there is a solution to every mathematical or scientific problem,
and that our job was to look for it until we found it. It was a lesson I
have never forgotten. It’s a great nondefeatest philosophy. And it leads
to the idea that if one solution doesn’t work, you simply try another.
You try fifty if you have to, but you keep on trying. Too many of us are
content to ‘make an effort’ at something, and then, if we haven’t
achieved our goal, we shrug our shoulders, lift our palms, and give up.
We say that there’s nothing more we can do.” (pp. 118-9)
That’s a far different cry from the counsel that comes from most
teachers, namely that “You’ll find the answer in your textbook.”
My personal view of this issue is that there are two kinds of people in
the world. The first are those who have every possible excuse for not
doing something and therefore don’t do it. The second, much smaller,
group includes those who do it anyway.
Dweck’s book will help you decide what it takes to influence a child (or
an adult) to develop a growth-oriented mindset. The most fundamental way
to do this is to teach people that they have to earn the right or the
capacity to do something, and that takes their best thinking and best
effort over a period of time. They therefore should not be identified as
either “stupid” or “brilliant,” but rather as a person who is or is not
willing to find something worth doing and stick with it until a solid
achievement is the result.
In the present mindset that dominates our society, a great many forces
conspire to tell us that we should adopt the value system that is most
widely accepted and try as hard as possible not to violate that. This
places us constantly on the defensive against a world that is frequently
portrayed as alien to our best interests.
Instead, people need to be told that they should work out their own
value system, be prepared to defend it; and then, on the basis of that
value system, work as hard as possible to make something happen that
will bring about (in however small a way) a positive difference in the
world. In many cases, carrying out such a plan may take many years or
even decades, during which time one may have little support from others,
most of whom are likely to be critical and negative about the project.
Brockovich had to work “24/7” for many years with practically no one on
her side. In the end she not only helped a large number of terribly
abused people win a lawsuit against a large corporation that had
poisoned their environment, she also made the world safer for others to
follow in her footsteps. As a result, we are likely in future to have a
more responsible corporate ethic combined with a society that is more
willing to make sure that those who try to make profits at public
expense will do so at their own peril.
This is by no means the only problem we face in our contemporary world,
but it is one of the most important ones. An even larger challenge is
that we need to somehow create a school system devoted to teaching
people how to change from a fixed to a growth-oriented mindset, so that
whatever problems they choose to solve, they are likely to pursue their
search for solutions wisely and in a way that will lead to a successful
result. Such a school system could help us achieve a more positive world
culture than we have now.
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