Month: January 2021

1. Lukianoff and Haidt’s ideas seem to have a more fixed mindset. The reason I say this is because a lot that they are saying has to do with how this change is bad, and not how this could be a positive in the future. Dweck explained the fixed mindset as looking at challenges to be “terrible”, which is different from what someone with a growth mindset might say. An example of this is when they said “mental illness in young adults have been rising”, and accounted for this rising due to the protection that colleges are starting to offer. Instead of thinking that students are becoming more willing to get help because of the people who aren’t holding back what they say. I believe that people around our age are making up for all of the past generations’ mental health problems. Then, a lot of people thought therapy was a waste of time and unmanageable, whereas now, a lot of people are seeing the benefits.
2. In both, Dweck and the Coddling of the American Mind, they agree that teaching students how to think is the most important part of learning. “Don’t teach students what to think; teach them how to think” was said the Coddling of the American Mind. This is an important topic to discuss because there are always new techniques to be taught and even go back to. Dweck says something similar, ” instead of basing intelligence on the information acquired, it is more on the application of the knowledge.” I believe both authors are trying to get across the same idea. We have to let students learn and not base everything off on the end result, but more or less, on the journey it takes to get that result and study that.
3. Using Dweck’s knowledge behind the growth and fixed mindsets, I see that in “The Coddling”, there is a sense of a fixed mindset to the idea of creating a safer and more peaceful world for everyone. No, this will not stop everyone and people will still say things with colleges being the way they are, but colleges are at the forefront of our society and lead by example. We need to show everyone that certain words will cause discomfort, increased anxiety, and mental health issues. At the same time, “The Coddling” shows a growth mindset when having an outlook like “Universities themselves should try to raise consciousness about the need to balance freedom of speech with the need o make all students feel welcome.” Freedom of speech is a very important concept in America but a lot of the time, I feel some people get this mixed up on what it means. It doesn’t mean you can go around saying whatever you want all the time, it is showing that you are able to have an opinion and if right, speak about that opinion. If someone wants to talk about how white privilege doesn’t exist, they should not have the right to speak freely about that because it Is false and misleading.

1. The author describes critical thinking using Socrates. They say it is ” in part by encouraging students to question their own unexamined beliefs, as well as the received wisdom of those around them”. The definition the author uses for critical thinking is obviously very known in the education system, but when they are using college students as an example, I believe that they need to understand students who have had experiences outside of college. “But vindictive protectiveness teaches students to think in a very different way. It prepares them poorly for professional life”. I completely disagree with this quote because most of the people who are being protected from these sensitive subjects have already had to deal with the sensitivities outside of college. It’s not like they would be hearing these words for the first time, but having these protections can lead others by example, especially the work industries. Many students who are in college are already struggling with anxiety and depression because this is the time where they finally get to understand themselves and who they truly are. It’s not like having these protections up can do more harm, if anything it should cause less stress for those sensitive about subjects.

3. The author believes that is hard to understand that people can get the same reaction from these “triggers” as veterans do with PTSD. They believe that it makes certain subjects very hard to teach; say, if you’re a law student and have to learn about rape, some students might want that entire section not to be taught. Suk compares this to “a medical student who is training to be a surgeon but who fears that he’ll become distressed if he sees or handles blood”. This to me is a bit of an over-exaggeration because lawyers do choose cases that they want to take and can completely avoid cases involving rape whereas surgeons cannot. I do understand that rape is a very touchy and harsh subject because it is awful and hopefully the author does, too, but if someone wants to be a lawyer who is going to deal with rape cases, you should learn about the context and see what the laws entail. On the other hand, when it comes to core curriculum classes, why are these trigger warning lessons necessary? There are so many things within our society that can be taught without invoking a sense of insecurity or sensitivity. The professors should definitely be forced to give out a warning before instructing the class.

1. The differenced described in the text about the movement happening now vs in the 80s and 90s is that today the movement is targeted towards everyone, creating a more safe space. Whereas the movement then, was to ensure that “hate speech aimed at marginalized groups” was to be stopped. This movement today is to make a more generalized movement to allow for people to be free and be who they want to be. This is important for education now because people will be more willing to communicate if there are any problems or even be freer to speak in a class. I disagree with most of the ideas that college students “can’t take a joke”. Why do people have to make jokes about sensitive subjects? The world needs change in my opinion to allow for people to be who they want to be without the feeling of being judged and this movement happening now can lead to that.
2. This section discusses the differences between generations and how their children were raised. With the baby boomers, they became free and could do whatever they wanted, while their children were on the complete opposite of the spectrum. This flip resulted in a drastic change in schools with even playgrounds becoming safer. I relate to the republicans vs democrats section. Obviously, there are going to be disagreements in parties and as a democrat, I can say that I am amongst those who have increasingly started to feel that way about the other side. But, I do realize something needs to change as it can become “a very serious problem for any democracy.” Although at the same time I do disagree because I can’t change the way I feel so strongly about and can’t get to understand the other side without reasons that I have yet to hear.
3. I believe that the fixed mindset relates to many of the ideas considered in this article. When they were talking about college students becoming too sensitive, why can’t the people making the jokes acknowledge how these students are feeling and work around that? A lot of people feel that this is true, but it is the fixed mindset that is not allowing these people to change because it may not necessarily benefit them in a way or it challenges their ideology. “There are important differences between what’s happening now and what happened in the 1980s and 90s”, this quote just resonates with me because there are always going to be differences throughout time and changes that are made that may feel uncomfortable at first, but then become normal. I feel like this has something to do with the fixed vs growth mindset; people with the growth mindset are able to see these “challenges” maybe at first become something good.

1. As Dweck explains, a growth mindset is where a person is positive about the upcoming challenges being faced and believes that “their abilities could be developed”. Whereas with a fixed mindset, these persons look at these challenges as terrible things. She describes this as “having their intelligence up for judgment”, making these students believe they will fail.
2. Instead of praising intelligence, praise the process that a person might take to get that good grade. “This process praise creates kids who are hearty and resilient”. Another way would be by transforming the meaning of effort and difficulty. This allows people to “make neuron connections”, helping them in the process of becoming more intelligent. I actually tend to agree with Dweck’s ideas on how to praise the effort it took to get that answer on a test because that then makes the student think of new creative ways to get an answer. They would no longer be searching for praise on how well they do on something.
3. Dweck’s model of intelligence is similar in some ways but also varies in others. Instead of basing intelligence on the information acquired, it is more on the application of the knowledge. Intelligence comes in various ways. People can show it by how well they come up with creative writing ideas or how they get to an answer on a math problem, there is no limit.
4. I have gone through plenty of fixed mindset moments in my life, as most of us do, but the one that sticks out to me the most is when I was in 3rd grade. I was never an avid reader, I actually despised it. Because of this, I was falling behind on my literacy which at the time wasn’t a big deal. I became stuck in this ongoing cycle of skipping the chapters we were supposed to read and faking my way out of it. This didn’t work and it was obvious in my test scores. My teacher was actually a person who really helped me push out of this mindset, as she would encourage me to find books of other types that the class wasn’t reading, that I would enjoy. She didn’t push me too hard where I would back off, but a little at a time to where I was actually beginning to enjoy reading. As I practiced more and more, I definitely was able to see an improvement and have always seen that moment in my learning career as an important one.