Thanks
to A.P. Psychology, it happens that I read both The Genius in All of Us and Mindsets,
so I had the ability to connect to parts of both books. Personally, I liked Genius better because of the tone of the
author, but that is beside the point. In both books, it is mentioned that
certain children who get praised for their natural ability or in a “fixed
mindset” way tend to fear rejection, and this causes them to stay within what
they think is their ability. Though Mindset
expands the topic more, I think Genius
attacks the point better because of its emphasis on the child’s potential. Of
course, I myself have a bias based on my conscious choice of Genius, so perhaps other opinions would
be helpful on this matter.
I cannot say I am immune to the
dangerous but tantalizing venom of intellectual pride, and the symptoms of the
poison are evident in my life. I know I am not the only one who suffers from
this, but thankfully, these books offer potent cures for this psychologically
numbing disease. That is the best feature of these books: their applicability,
but it takes changes, hard things for people of our country.
I find myself in a similar position as you since we both ended up reading the same book in AP Psychology and now in AP English.
ReplyDeleteI, too, felt that Shenk had a stronger argument than Dweck, though both of them had a similar argument: talent is not static.