Comments on: The Curse of the “Smart” Student

By: Vasiliki

Vasiliki — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:34:47 +0000

This article: http://hubpages.com/hub/How_should_we_praise_our_children
Says that praising students will make them choose the easy way out. 400 students were tested. They were given a series of puzzles. They had a choice between an easy set and a hard set of puzzles. 200 of the students were given encouragement that they can do it and that they work very hard. 90% of them chose the harder set of puzzles. Even if they couldn’t figure them out they still kept on trying different solutions. The other 200 were told that they were extremely smart and the majority of them chose the easier set. If they couldn’t figure the puzzle out with their first few guesses they gave up. They chose the easier set because they just wanted to look smart and not make any mistakes. They were afraid of failure and chose the easy road.

By: Jong

Jong — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 03:44:12 +0000

I chose to read the article of “The Secret of Rasising Smart Kids.” The article said that fixed minds tended to be succesful during their school life, yet unsucessful during their jobs because they lacked the encouragement. Yet, when I read this it seemed very general, so I decided to research about geniuses because they’re perfect examples of people who achieve their academic grades outstandingly compared to average students. According to the article in -How Stuff Works- the brains of geniuses tended to be very different than average brains. For instance, Albert Enstein’s brain had a much larger Partietal Lobe which is used for mathematics and sciences. Why does this matter though? This proves that probably the intelligence that geniuses receive is inherited depending on the size of the brain and skull. A genius or not, it doesn’t mean you will be sucessful in life, but instead it all depends on whether you apply that intelligence or not. There have been many incidents where kids of young age, known as geniuses have been kept on being called “smart, astute, etc.” yet were still discouraged, just like an average person would, of their lives due to the discouragement when they met difficulties in their social lives. Just like Jack said, these geniuses had a fixed-mind set and weren’t able to see the positive circumstances they were gifted with.

By: Jack

Jack — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 01:06:29 +0000

I chose to read the article, “Implicit Theories of Intelligence Predict Achievement Across an Adolescent Transition: A Longitudinal Study and an Intervention” Although the article was incomplete (it only displayed the abstract), I was still able to answer the questions. This article shows that those with a fixed mind set seem to become discouraged when they fail to succeed, and therefore continue to do worse, while those with a growth mind set see a failure as an opportunity to do better in the future and do succeed over time because of it. As for the second question, those in a class who had a growth mind set were predicted (and tested) to show an overall increase in grades over two years, while those who showed a fixed mind set were predicted (and tested) to show no positive difference in grades. As for the third question, this post shows me that whether or not one has a fixed or growth mind set depends on how they are influenced. The article has shown me that it is more important to the person if they have the ability to change their mind set. I later looked up other articles on this subject and found this blog post that sums up the difference between the two very nicely http://michaelgr.com/2007/04/15/fixed-mindset-vs-growth-mindset-which-one-are-you/
One who has a fixed mind set is just that. Fixed. They can’t see positive changes and therefore don’t achieve to their fullest potential. Those who have growth mind sets are the opposite. They are open to the outside world and see every opportunity through.

By: Matt C.

Matt C. — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:56:08 +0000

Bob, I believe this quote is said by Edison and Einstein because when I did research after seeing your comment I found evidence that they both said the quote. Here is my evidence that Einstein said it also http://inspirationperspiration.wordpress.com/

By: Bob

Bob — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 12:35:48 +0000

The quote “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.” is by Edison not Einstein

By: charlot

charlot — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 16:24:22 +0000

I think this was an accurate scientific study because they used a big population to follow grades for a whole school year. The population in one study was 164 and the other group was 198 students. They also gave teachers, parents, and students a survey to rate how self disciplined the student was. This is important because you get more than one person’s outlook.
Yes this study will have an impact on how students approach their work in school. Students who were born smart will start to realize they have to put effort in their school work to develop good study habits for the future even if they do well. Not take advantage of their smart abilities and not study because they will do well anyway. They will notice it will help them when they get to college and classes get harder. This will also help kids who aren’t born gifted but have to work hard. They will notice that there study habits and their hard work do pay off and you don’t have to be born smart to do well and get good grades, you just have to put 100% effort in your studies.
There were also other studies on this topic. http://blog.steffanantonas.com/teaching-grit-the-growth-mindset-vs-the-fixed-mindset.htm. This article is saying that one person can be successful while the other struggles, this has nothing to do with being smart. It largely depends on personality traits such as caring about your work no matter how well you do, or taking advantage of your successful abilities and not trying as hard as a person who doesn’t do as well.

By: Charlot

Charlot — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 01:03:47 +0000

Explain one of the quantitative findings provided by this study:
I chose to read Self Discipline Outdoes IQ in Predicting Academic Performance of Adolescents

You can be born “smart” but it doesn’t mean that you have good study habits or the ability to work hard for what you want. This study showed that the GPA of naturally smart students (the IQ group) who didn’t try as hard ranged from 89-91%. However, students who weren’t as naturally smart but were self disciplined ranged from 91-94% in their GPA. They also started lower but their scores increased quickly.

This article used real life students from a junior high school in the Northeast. The students were a mix of caucasion. Black, Latino, Asian, and American Indian. The study included 56% female.

It was an accurate scientific study because they used a big population to follow grades for a whole school year. The population in one study was 164 and the other group was 198 students. They also gave teachers, parents, and students a survey to rate how self disciplined the student was. This is important because you get more than one person’s outlook.

The people who did the study measured the students’ report card grades, standardized test scores, competitive high school admissions, and attendance. They found that students with more self discipline got higher scores and their attendance was better than students who are naturally smart but don’t try as hard.

People in our society tend to try to take the easy way out as in blaming teachers, reading bad textbooks, and overpopulated classes. But the reason is lack of self discipline.