The Secret To Raising Smart Kids Summary

The narrator writes “Those with a growth mindset reported that after a setback in school, they would simply study more or study differently the next time” (Dweck 2). The interesting part about this quote is that when a student is struggling as they try to achieve something, and if the results are not what they expected they will push themselves into doing better in the future. This is not only a situation that happens with students, but to many humans who are still developing their intelligence. Therefore, it is common and ok for people to fail as long as failure becomes the motivation to achieve

Imagine a room full of 30 plus 12th-grade colonists on the first day of school at Anaheim high school and the math teacher asks what is the square root of 16? Nothing but the noise of sheer silence falls across the room. How can a room full of students that have been going to school for 12 years not answer that simple question and how can we increase the success of students that go Anaheim high school? In order to increase the success of students at Anaheim schools the summer has to be shorter and the days longer. In the article “Marita’s bargain” the author Gladwell explains how time is used in regular schools compared to the KIPP Academy in the Bronx and other school systems with short summers and longer days.The article shows how more time

Ms. Carol S. Dweck believes that children with a big ego, or a fixed mind-set, will not excel in school as well as someone who has a smaller ego, or a growth mind-set. According to Ms. Dweck on lines 16-20, “The result plays out in children link Jonathan, who coast through the early grades under the dangerous notion that no-effort academic achievement defines them as smart or gifted. Such children hold an implicit belief that intelligence is innate and fixed, making striving to learn seem far less important than being (or looking) smart.” As previously stated in the text, Jonathan’s grades plummeted after he started to work at higher levels of education. The author believes that over praising parents are to blame.

Roger Von Oech proved that a person who has no experience in failing would not have enough strength or a harder time getting back up. In his article, “To Err Is Wrong”, he talks about having a friend who just graduated with a master degree and is having a hard time getting a job. He says her problem is, “she doesn’t know how to fail”(Oech 89). He explains that because of her inexperience in failing, she is afraid of taking chances in doing what might not go right. For me, I have failed at many things like writing an essay but like many people when I receive the grade I just don’t throw the essay.

Kewauna used perseverance, passion, and sacrifice to succeed in college. Firstly, Kewauna used perseverance to overcome peer pressure. For example, Paul Tough, author of “How Children Succeed:...”, shares how Kewauna sat in the front row of the class even though all of the other African American students sat in the back (Tough). Therefore, by using perseverance, Kewauna beat the peer pressure. Secondly, Kewauna was passionate about not giving up on her grades.

Paul Tough’s How Children Succeed seeks to challenge the ideology that success in a child stems from the strength of their cognitive skills; rather success or failure from childhood to adulthood comes from noncognitive factors. Through Tough’s novel, we're able to see the benefits of protective factors and the harm of risk factors in the overall success of a student. Common protective factors found within the novel focused on the relationship between the parents and children. Developing stronger bonds and creating room for open and honest communication helped to create more neural pathways that help buffer stress and increase brain activity.

“The idea of trying and still failing - of leaving yourself without excuses - is the worst fear within the fixed mindset” (Dweck, 2016, p. 42). At least with a growth mindset a failure means one tried. There is nothing wrong with failure as long as the effort was present. In order to achieve maximum effort it can consist of one’s ability, drive, and any additional help an individual is willing to take.

The article “Are We Raising a Generation of Helpless Kids” by Mickey Goodman appears on the Huffington Post, an online news aggregator and blog. The author focuses on explaining that children who are allowed to make choices and decisions on their own should be a thing of the past. He also touches on the idea that children learning valuable life lessons in our generation are not getting things done. The article tells the reader that the parents of the children today should prepare their kids for failure in life, and show them how to actually succeed in life without handouts.

In “The Secret Of Raising Smart Kids”, Carol S. Dweck suggests overpraising children may be counterproductive. Effort, not intelligence or ability, is the key to success in school and life according to the article. Dweck claims there are two views of intelligence, “growth mind-set” and “fixed mind-set”. “Fixed mind-set” is when a student believes that intelligence is a fixed trait and losses confidence when errors are made attributed to their lack of ability. “Growth mind-set” thinks of intelligence as something that can be developed through education and difficult work. Instead of praising a child for their intelligence she suggests giving them a pat on the back for effort. Also, Dweck states that children can develop a “growth mind-set” through a workshop involving a series of study skills sessions and classes on how to apply a “growth mind-set” to school work. I find it hard to agree with Dweck’s claims that there are only two views of intelligence, a proper way to praise, and proposes a child can make up their own mind-set through her workshops.

Paul Tough is a Canadian-American author, broadcaster, and journalist, best known for his research and writing in education, parenting, poverty, and politics. He is a contributing writer to the New York Times Magazine and has written pieces that appeared in the New Yorker, the Atlantic, GQ, and Esquire. He is also the author of Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada’s Quest to Change Harlem and America (2008), How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character (2012), and Helping Children Succeed: What Works and Why (2016). His second book How Children Succeed was translated into 27 languages and spent more than a year on the New York Times best-seller list.

“The Secret to Raising Smart Kids” by Carol S. Dweck is about the development of a child’s mentality when it comes to their self-confidence as well their capability of learning and working hard. Dweck informs the reader that there are two types of children and people in general when it comes to learning as well as growing. One group are the helpless people and one group are those with a growth mindset. Whether a person falls into the helpless or those willing to grow greatly impacts their success as well as their future.

In order for changes to happen and help this percentage reach the average requirement improvements need to happen here at Anaheim schools. A way to improve students success in Anaheim schools is by teaching students to have a growth mindset. Those students who work with a growth mindset take on challenges and those who don’t give up and don’t do well. In “The Secret To Raising Smart Kids,” by, Dweck, Carol the importance of students education is discussed by the two types of mindsets a student should have. The first type is called a growth mindset and having this mindset allows the student to take risks when a problem gets difficult.

Thank you, for sharing your personal experience. I agree with the article, "Raising Smart Kids" was enlightening and detailed on the topic of fixed mind-set and growth mind-set. I learned that if we nurture a growth mind-set in our homes and at schools we will give children the “tools to thrive in their quests and to become accountable employees and citizen” (Dweck, 2007, p. 6). In the long run my goal as an educator is to prepare students to become responsible citizens and help them thrive. Carol Dweck, stated, educators could improve their students' learning if they “persistently encouraged them to think about their mental skills as malleable, rather than as properties fixed at birth” (Glenn, 2010, p.5).

Dweck, Cords. “The Secret to Raising Smart Kids” Collection, Edited by Beers, Hougen, Jago et Al, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015, PP.21-26

Through out my high school career I never took my education seriously. For most of the four years it was a big blur. I’m not quite sure if it was because of me or if I found myself blaming my surroundings or teachers for my lack of focus and strive to learn. A failure can mean different things to everyone else. Maybe there’s just different types or categories of failures. These failures are meant to teach us something, or motivate us to simply not make these mistakes again.