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Hard Work, Not Intelligence, Key to Getting Ahead
by
findingDulcinea Staff
New research indicates that praising a child’s brilliance may be ill-advised, a finding that reignites an old debate regarding the relationship between nurture, intelligence and success.
30-Second Summary
Writing in Scientific American, Carol S. Dweck reports that rewarding children for their intelligence can easily encourage the belief that intelligence is a fixed quantity—either you have it or you don’t.
Children with that mind-set lose confidence and motivation when they encounter difficulties in their academic career.
The way these children see it is that intelligent people shouldn’t have to work hard. So, they infer that if they can't easily succeed, they shouldn't bother trying.
Bad grades in a subject readily result in their either dropping that class or trying to cheat.
Alternatively, teaching children that their brains can develop if nurtured correctly encourages youngsters to work through challenging problems. They are more likely to admit their weaknesses and take steps to fix them.
Dweck writes that fostering a growth mind-set means telling children stories about hard work and rewarding them for their effort, not praising them for their innate talents.
The findings are sure to be of interest to parents who, so Newsweek has reported, increasingly put pressure on children as young as three to perform well academically.
One educator interviewed by Newsweek described kindergarten as “the new first grade."
Children with that mind-set lose confidence and motivation when they encounter difficulties in their academic career.
The way these children see it is that intelligent people shouldn’t have to work hard. So, they infer that if they can't easily succeed, they shouldn't bother trying.
Bad grades in a subject readily result in their either dropping that class or trying to cheat.
Alternatively, teaching children that their brains can develop if nurtured correctly encourages youngsters to work through challenging problems. They are more likely to admit their weaknesses and take steps to fix them.
Dweck writes that fostering a growth mind-set means telling children stories about hard work and rewarding them for their effort, not praising them for their innate talents.
The findings are sure to be of interest to parents who, so Newsweek has reported, increasingly put pressure on children as young as three to perform well academically.
One educator interviewed by Newsweek described kindergarten as “the new first grade."
Headline Links: Raising smart children
In study after study, children, college students and even executives benefited from a course encouraging a growth mind-set. Children were more attentive in class and took more notes. In the business world, supervisors who received a tutorial on the principles and importance of a growth mind-set were more willing to give helpful advice to employees.
Source: Scientific American
Newsweek examines the lives of elementary school children, in which testing and rigorous academic standards are the new norm in many districts. One educator calls Kindergarten “The new first grade,” though it used to be a place where children could play. Parents are contributing to the high-stakes environment, according to this article, by having their children start tutoring as young as three. Some children are also “red-shirted,” which means their entry into kindergarten is delayed so that they can enter with an edge on the competition. More than a few educators are wondering whether the children are being pushed too far, too early.
Source: Newsweek
Reference Material: Intelligence theories, gifted children, and the ‘Mozart effect’
Dr. Spencer Kagan outlines the theory of multiple intelligences, the idea that people can be smart in different ways, such as in the visual/spatial, musical/rhythmic, verbal/linguistic and interpersonal areas. People with interpersonal intelligence, for example, are good at relationships, and tend to go into careers such as politics or sales. A famous person he cites as possessing interpersonal intelligence is Mother Teresa. Kagan also gives tips for developing the “multiple intelligences” in babies and children.
Source: Kagan Publishing and Professional Development
First-born children are more likely to be recognized as gifted than second-born children, though most children are within 13 IQ points of their siblings. That is some of what, in nearly 30 years of research, the Gifted Development Center has learned after assessing more than 5,000 children. Being gifted is something that cuts across all cultures and socioeconomic levels. Parents tend to be the best at recognizing a child is gifted, but if they overlook it, chances are the child’s teacher will, too. The subject of giftedness is analyzed in a PDF available online.
Source: The Gifted Development Center
In the early 1990s, the term “Mozart effect” was coined after a study at the University of California at Irvine was published in Nature. Researchers had college students listen to a Mozart sonata, a relaxation tape, or nothing, and then take an intelligence test. Students who listened to Mozart had better scores, but the results didn’t last more than about 15 minutes. The Mozart effect study was criticized for using too few subjects, and other researchers weren’t able to replicate its results. But the idea led Georgia’s governor to give free classical music CDs to parents of newborns in 1998.
Source: Neuroscience for Kids
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