The Secret to Raising Smart Kids
Submitted
by
Hugh Pickens
Hugh Pickens writes "Scientific American has an interesting article on The Secret to Raising Smart Kids that says that more than 30 years of scientific investigation suggests that an overemphasis on intellect or talent leaves people vulnerable to failure, fearful of challenges and unwilling to remedy their shortcomings. In particular, attributing poor performance to a lack of ability depresses motivation more than does the belief that lack of effort is to blame. One theory of what separates the two general classes of learners, helpless versus mastery-oriented, is that these different types of students not only explain their failures differently, but they also hold different "theories" of intelligence. The helpless ones believe that intelligence is a fixed trait: you have only a certain amount. Mistakes crack their self-confidence because they attribute errors to a lack of ability, which they feel powerless to change. Mastery-oriented children think intelligence is malleable and can be developed through education and hard work. Challenges are energizing rather than intimidating offering opportunities to learn. How do we transmit a growth mind-set to our children? Children congratulated for their intelligence shy away from a challenging assignment while students praised for their effort do not lose confidence when faced with harder questions. Parents and teachers can also help children by providing explicit instruction regarding the mind as a learning machine. People do differ in intelligence, talent and ability and yet research is converging on the conclusion that great accomplishment, and even what we call genius, is typically the result of years of passion and dedication and not something that flows naturally from a gift."
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The Secret to Raising Smart Kids