Inbok Lee 1

Inbok Lee
Sabatino Mangini
ENG 100
12/15/2016
A Growth Mindset
Carol Dweck identified two types of mindset in life, a fixed and a growth mindset
respectively. A fixed mindset believes that ability to perfect in all aspects of life such as
education since merit solely depends on the natural gifts and talents. Therefore, a talented person
succeeds while the one without talent is bound to fail. It is a mentality that impedes growth.
However, having a growth mindset characterizes individuals as open minded (Dougherty 9).
According to Carol, becoming a champion can be acquired through reinforcement and practice.
Regarding intelligence, one cannot hold on to virtue unless it expands through letting in new
ideas to boost one's talent and knowledge. It implies that intelligence quotient increases
according to the efforts enacted in each practice one exercise in day to day as argued by Carol
Dweck (Hymer, Barry, & Mike 38). Thus, having a growth mindset makes a student to be
optimistic and achieve good results.
The need to understand the mindsets of people mostly students could influence the
performance both in class and in the field. The view on a fixed mindset kind of individuals
shows this belief is full of negatives and failures. The mind is set to believe what it already
grasped, and no change can be allowed. These people think they are in a better position to
achieve whatever they believe in since they know a talent boosts them. But can a talent alone

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without any additional effort help one in achieving the set goals? The question on its own is
enough for one to think of a growth mindset which is expandable through practice and
development leading to successful achievement (Mercer, Sarah, & Stephen 80). For instance,
most schools in Korea do not provide platforms in which students can learn using different
languages. As one of the students, who felt that there was no need to learn other languages apart
from Korean and English. I was comfortable with the two languages since I did not see the need
to learn a variety of styles when I could communicate well with my people within the country
(Brock, Annie, & Heather 45). However, this was not to be when I walked in America. My belief
on being comfortable with the two languages did not go well. I realized in the first place that my
English was not all that perfect when I communicated to my fellow students as well as teachers
and to make the matter worse; I could not speak Korean to anybody unless he or she were from
my country of origin. It was a setback that affected me greatly in that I felt shy to talk and even
ask questions in class for I believed I could have laughed at the way I pronounced my words and
how my English was different in terms of quality compared to the American.
In this case, I realize I needed to open my mind and pave in new knowledge that could
better my communication with the people around me to further perform well in class. A fixed
mindset cannot allow space for new ideas for one believes what he or she has is enough and
vital. If I could not have come to America, my mind could not have opened to the realization that
what I had is not entirely enough to make me survive the ever changing world of knowledge
(Masters 17). More so, having switched to a growth mindset, I realized those setbacks were not
to push me down put act as boosters for me to improve in all areas. Eventually, this worked out
with the support of the American learning systems that never discriminate on persons from

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different grounds or origins. The teachers encouraged me greatly, and this perfected my mind
more on the need to embrace a growth mindset in all the levels of education now and forever.
According to Carol Dweck, as much as a student may be clever but have a fixed mindset,
he or she is in an excellent position to register a decline in performance unless he or she is ready
to switch to a growth mindset (Dweck 98). In most cases, students with this kind of mind
structure feel that they know everything and in many cases, they may assume the teacher since
they believe they are already perfect. However, on the other hand, the low performers with a
growth mindset can top the class since their minds are open to acquiring new skills and
knowledge in order improve on the little knowledge they have. For these students, the need to
have new skills is helpful not only in performance but also in boosting their self-worthiness. One
may begin to feel that he or she is not foolish but only has a need that can equip one with the
efforts of learning new skills and ideas (Vandewalle 303).
Carol Dweck argues that the students with fixed mindset structure believe that whatever
they have regarding ability, intelligence as well as talents are all fixed and only work to keep
them but not improve them (Dweck 63). They believe these aspects will lead to their failure and
this will impact negatively on their image as individuals. It implies that no matter what they do
as students they must always be on top since the term failure does not appear in their mind or
world. However, in the case of students with a growth mindset, embrace setbacks and take
failure as a climbing stone as well as an opportunity to improve and learn. A student who
performs poorly in class but has a growth mindset is in a better position to register an
improvement through letting in new skills from both the teacher and fellow students (Dweck 20).
It is however unlike in the case where this student performs weak but has a closed mindset. He or
she believes there is no way he can perform better yet he or she is a fool. According to Dweck,

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She argues that as teachers or parents, the need to give praises to students who perform well is a
negative impression on the individual since he or she will feel that it is not necessary to acquire
new skills and knowledge any further as they are already the best. Praises make a student have a
fixed mindset which is a barrier in a good performance for students (Ricci 24).
The way students perceive things play an important in good performance. The mentality
of each in class can be a great key to achievement if only it is in the state of expanding to let in
new ideas well as skills. Growth mindset in students, however, should not be misunderstood on
the ground that it is only enacted on efforts alone since it will imply that the set goals get
achieved. The case of this belief will mean that there will be no need to continue striving in
information and a skill searching since it is the ultimate. Instead, one must have a mind that even
though success is paramount, the need to continue letting in new knowledge should always be
embraced to be flexible in all aspects of life besides classroom. A student needs to go beyond the
efforts of trying into developing different strategies that influence learning positively. Given this
case, Carol Dweck's argument on the need to embrace growth mindset in students is valid.

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Works Cited
Brock, Annie, and Heather Hundley. A Growth Mindset Coach: A Teacher's Month-by-Month
Handbook for Empowering Students to Achieve. Ulysses Press, 2016.
Hymer, Barry, and Mike Gershon. Growth Mindset Pocketbook. New York: Management
Pocketbooks, 2014. Internet resource.
Dougherty, Dale. "The maker mindset." Design, make, play: Growing the next generation of
STEM innovators (2013): 7-11.
Dweck, Carol. Mindset: How you can fulfill your potential. Hachette UK, 2012.
Dweck, Carol S. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. New York: Random House, 2006.
Print.
Dweck, Carol S. "Even geniuses work hard." Educational Leadership 68.1 (2010): 16-20.
Masters, Geoff N. "Towards a growth mindset in assessment." (2013).
Mercer, Sarah, and Stephen Ryan. "A mindset for EFL: Learners beliefs about the role of
natural talent." ELT journal (2009): ccp083.
Ricci, Mary C. Mindsets in the Classroom: Building a Culture of Success and Student
Achievement in Schools, 2013. Print.
Vandewalle, Don. "A growth and fixed mindset exposition of the value of conceptual
clarity." Industrial and Organizational Psychology 5.3 (2012): 301-305.