Before today I had never heard of Carol Dwerk or the concept of Growth Mindset. However, while reading the video transcripts I felt a sense of Déjà vu of sorts because while I was unfamiliar with the theory itself, everything Dwerk mentioned reminded me of thoughts and opinions that I have had at one point or another about the American education system as a whole and how that affected my growth and my perspective of what "intelligence" is. A while ago I watched a commentary video discussing how being a "gifted child" is more a curse than a blessing because of the pressure put on kids at such a young age to strive for academic excellence and to be the best (this was just one takeaway I had from that video, but the discussion was much more complex). This was detrimental to some kids’ mindsets in regards to school and learning. Carol Dwerk’s videos reminded me so much of this specific situation because they both focus on the detriment of “now” instead of encouraging “not yet”.
When I was younger, I focused on getting the best grades, being the best on the field or court, doing the most extracurriculars, etc. My mindset was fixed and stagnant because I was focused on the wrong thing; it would have been more beneficial for me to strive for improvement rather than being the best. College was the real turning point for me. I had a reality check and realized how much those thoughts negatively affected me. I entered a new environment where I did not know anybody and was completely unfamiliar with my surroundings, but my fixed mindset prevented me from stepping out of the security of my comfort zone. Eventually, I did. I stepped away from that fixed mindset little by little, and while my transition from fixed to growing is not done and will probably never be done, I can say that the personal growth I have had since being here is shocking. Whether it be academic, social, mental, emotional, etc., the growth I have experienced is very real. Four years ago I would have paled at the thought of public speaking or taking lead of a task or project. Now, I regularly speak in front of 40+ people for my campus organization and have six amazing committee members who trust and rely on me to lead and to help them.
Because I have a personal investment in topics related to the Growth Mindset and because it resonates with me so much, I would love to learn more about this theory in depth. Reading through varying perspectives and opinions of professionals regarding this topic would be very interesting and thought-provoking. Being my last semester, other than one required course for my major I decided to enroll in courses that interested me and sounded fun. One of those classes is psychology, which I assume Growth Mindset would be relevant to that branch of study. I am looking forward to seeing if the class will cover Growth Mindset or if there will be any other theories or topics similar to this that we will learn about. Actually, all but one of my classes this semester are subjects out of my academic comfort zone in some form or fashion, and I am actually excited that I will be starting from square one for most of them. I have nowhere to go but upward in my learning and knowledge of these subjects.
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