There are many students who have different mindsets compared to others. There are two main mindsets which lead to debates merits of education, one of them is Growth and the other is Fixed mindset. In the article “Teachers, Parent Often Misuse Growth Mindsets Research” by The Hechinger Report, it mentions a person named Carol Dweck, who has claimed that students who have Growth mindset performs better than those who have Fixed mindset. In a similar article, the perils of “Growth Mindset” education: […] by Alfie Kohn, who says that we should fix the system instead of focusing on growth and fixed mindsets. He believed that Growth mindsets isn't a best way to make students performed better. In my opinion on this debate, I think that Carol Dweck makes a strong point about growth mindsets help students learn new things by embrace mistakes and never give up, but Mr. Kohn also points out that students need to obtain the right attitude in order to accomplish things instead of focusing on mindsets. Growth mindset help students explore and expand their knowledge even further where the universe is waiting. A growth mindset and fixed mindset have influenced in many ways.
Can a person be allowed to have both mindsets? Because I’m a person full of curiosity, I want to learn new things that are often neglected in the world, but sometime there is certain thing that i don't want to do. Mrs. Dweck said that people who have Growth mindset often ask questions and try new things instead of doing the same thing every day, which isn’t working as they expects. In contrast I am not a person who like to ask questions frequently because I want to try on my own before I ask them. In my high school career, I had so many questions and problems that I wanted to ask other, but instead of asking questions, I need to answer them before I asked. So would I be considered a Fixed mindset? It is because I don’t ask questions frequently? I’m not a person who are afraid of challenges, even though I don’t know what am I doing, but I’m actually like to try and embrace the results whether it’s good or bad. Life has different destinations for everyone, and human beings always have their own goals. It’s like the paths which students take, each student has their own path that was predetermined for them. Being a student is like a traveler, the one who goes on a journey to discover the new places. In the beginning of their journey, they have to decide which path they should take: The path of knowledge or illiteracy. Sometimes I feel very excited about new things and places that I’m going to face, but sometimes I feel scared of getting lost in a mindset of unfamiliar things. At a young age, I had to leave my home, my community to go to a new place. My middle school friends almost were not here. I was living in an entirely new environment when I moved to this country. I remembered imagine myself being a student facing many challenges: Everything changed about me ever since I moved to the States. I had to overcome challenges such us adapting to the American culture, learning the English language and getting through a day without any unwanted attention. Perhaps the most difficult challenges I had to went through were mainly from school. I was a shy kid and I was afraid of everything. The thoughts of losing my accomplishments, not being able to master English, failing classes in school and being isolated in a place where no one looked like me dominated my entire life in school. I was living with constant fears and struggling to find out who I really am on the inside. It took me a long time to take up the courage to ask myself this question “should I stay contained like this forever or go out of my comfort zone and explore?” Thanks to that question, I was able to develop a new mindset on my life. If I stop myself from trying new things, then I would stay in the same old spot for the rest of my life. I realized that I should go out and explore new challenges that life has offered so I could make mistakes and those mistakes will help me become a better person. Looking back, it has been 6 years since I left my country, I had the opportunity to become friends with foreign students who had the same experience as me during my ELL years. I learned to adapt new things and changes in life. I became more involved with my community which in turn granted me a best friend that motivated me to do things that are “impossible” in my life. I felt fearless and happy for not giving up on trying things. I believe that I can do anything if I set my mind to it. School had not been my final destination on my journey but it was a foundation that laid out the path of discovering new places, where I could grow and improve my mindset.
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