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  • Essay / The Meaning of Having a Fixed Mindset

    According to Dweck, “Many students believe that intelligence is fixed, that each person has a certain amount of it, and that's it. » All this really means is that people don't realize that you're not born good at something. Throughout my school career, up until university, I always had a fixed mindset when it came to art, exams, and homework. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why violent video games should not be banned"? Get an original essay When it comes to art, I have never been able to say with any confidence, "I can do this." Everyone in my class was better than me from a young age, and I was told I was just better at reading when I expressed my concerns. I was always told that I just had no talent for art and that was okay! I was a better reader! My artistic projects were ultimately not realized because I told myself that my reading results would suit me. I didn't have the support for art that I would have liked to have. Dr. Dweck talks about parents making sure their children feel good about themselves. “In the 1990s, parents and schools decided that the most important thing for children was self-esteem. » For me, this had shocking consequences. In high school in particular, there was an assignment that tormented me all year. We had to create a small comic strip for one of the major stories or books we had studied throughout the year. From Ulysses to Of Mice and Men, the class chose their stories. Mine was Odysseus, a favorite person. That didn't stop me from believing that I couldn't do it because mine wasn't as nice as everyone else's. Even now, I avoid showing my drawings to anyone when I'm doodling or drawing because I feel like I have to compare myself to others no matter how much effort and time I put into something. It doesn't seem to make sense because I know I won't be as good. In contrast to my deficiencies in art, my test scores were generally high. I was praised for my high test scores, even when I wasn't really studying. I got A's and B's on tests with little to no effort on my part outside of basic assessments. I never learned how to study properly because I never saw the need for it. It was never presented as something important. As I reached higher levels, the tests became more difficult and I still didn't consider studying important. It hasn't been that long, why would it be now? I was so smart that the tests should have been easy for me. I learned the hard way in college that studying is actually more than important, which I attributed to it. I started studying but still did poorly on exams. I started to think that maybe I wasn't as smart as I thought I was. Family members and teachers told me I was better than my grades showed. The effort I was putting in made no difference. I was always told that I just had to be better. Instead of helping me, it made me feel like I didn't have enough intelligence to do everything I should have done. “This could tell them that intelligence is simply something you possess and not something you develop.” This became the mindset I have today when it comes to testing and studying. I can't help but feel like it was all for nothing. I want to change this mindset, and to some extent I.