“I Love a Challenge”…”You know, I was hoping this would be Informative”
Carol Dweck came across exceptional children, in her research, that appreciated challenges. The children’s contentions which established their predilection for failure, after being presented with problematic puzzles, were incompatible with Carol Dweck’s presumption that : “you coped with failure or you didn’t cope with failure.” One would, typically, expect children to loathe problematical puzzles; conversely, the children specified that they were enthralled by the stimulating puzzles. As a result of the children’s implausible retorts, they became Carol Dweck’s models. Normally, youngsters regard adults as their role models; for that reason, Dweck’s pronouncement to honor the children as her models is ironic. Nevertheless, the kids discredited Carol Dweck’s slanted hypotheses concerning mindsets.
The Irony of IQ Test
Dweck writes, “Wasn’t the IQ test meant to summarize children’s unchangeable intelligent? In fact, no. Binet, a Frenchman working in Paris in the early twentieth century, designed this test to identify children who were not profiting from the Paris public schools, so that new educational programs could be designed to get them back on track.” The prime intent of the IQ Test is incongruous to the outcomes it has proffered ever since it was inaugurated. The IQ tests are principally used to corroborate whether one is smart or not which is contingent on the score that one garners. Although Binet deliberated the test to endorse programs that would empower children to inflate their astuteness, the IQ test elicits a fixed mindset whereby a high-ranking score makes one gratified that he or she is naturally brainy, whereas a low score persuades one that he/she is stupid. Perhaps, if the IQ test were unstructured, then it would have backed Binet’s intention of endorsing a growth mindset.
The Irony of Ben Hogan
Ben Hogan is legendary for his adeptness as a golfer. However, he “was completely uncoordinated and graceless as a child.” His childhood did not suggest auspicious pointers of his golf career. Nevertheless, he transcended the incoordination and clumsiness to become one of the most dexterous golfers. The ironic discrepancy between Ben Hogan’s childhood and his career validates the cogency of a growth mindset.
