The Learning Process and How It Can Be Affected

         I chose to read The Genius in All of Us by David Shenk. This book was extremely enjoyable to read because of how well it was written. If it weren't for all the homework I had every day, I would have finished this book the day I got it.

       One of the topics I found most interesting was the idea of a prime age for learning. Shenk goes into detail describing how the brain functions throughout the lifetime of the average human being. He claims that a person learns better at earlier years. Shenk goes further by staying that the specific prime age to learn is about four years old. At this age the brain is still developing, in which it can absorb the most information while also locking it into their memory. This makes total sense and It is incredible how our brains work. We all learn how to speak and fit in with others while we are young, so why not try learning other things at the same age?

        This books also talks about environments children are raised in, and how much it can affect the learning process. When a child is growing up, the surroundings they endure cause them to adapt and change in order to best fit given situations. I find this information very interesting because it makes me wonder how I could have been different if I were raised differently, as well as how my friends would be as a result of the environment as well.    Hello! If you see this text, you must bee really cool :)

The Dreaded "Comfort Zone"...

           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.

Illusion or reality?

In the Genius in All of Us  David Shenk states that our environment could affect the way we grow up. Like clay we are molded by our environment. It’s interesting how a child could turn out to be if he were raised in a different environment. Something interesting popped into my mind though. From the moment we are born we are shaped by our environment. We are bounded by what we come to live and accept what we deem true. We all live in what we believe to be  our own reality. But what exactly is reality and truth? Is knowledge and awareness vague? Are they better yet called illusions?

I myself believe that even though we are shaped and molded by our environment, it’s up to us if we stay bounded by how we have been raised. Even if we are raised by different environments we can still choose what becomes of us no matter the circumstance. That aspect of us doesn't define who we are because as humans we are given the choice to choose what we deem true. Some cases though are different because being born into a strict, conservative family means you have no idea of your own truth rather you have one of your families. Our own individual world isn't an illusion because if it were, we would be able to manipulate it and change it to the way we wanted it to be. We wouldn't have our own set of ideals to fight for if we could change anything we wanted to without any effort.

To be or not to be... HAPPY

   Hey guys! So for book club, I chose to read The Happiness Advantage by, Shawn Achor. I found this book to be interesting though at times I didn't agree with it because I felt that you can't say to yourself "be happy" and you will. As I continued to read the novel,it made a little more sense and I understood his principles to achieve happiness. This book teaches us that we must first find happiness in our lives in order to achieve success. For many of us it seems strange because it's not what we are taught, we are taught that in order to have happiness we need to achieve our goals, strive for the best, and become successful. Anchor helped me realize that the method we have always used doesn't work because once we have it we will only want more, and I agree with that. Even if we do get the grades you had set your goals to or the job you wanted, one way or another we will find a way to want more and we will never be content, which is why I agree with Anchor's method. I recomend this book to anyone who is not sure how to be happy as they would like to because somehow it can help. Being content with what you have is key to living a positive life. And yes you can decide to be happy by surrounding yourself with positivity! Let me know what you think!
 

Ethnicity or Determination?

Throughout his book, The Genius in All of Us, David Shenk makes it clear that his message consists of the fact that talent is not a thing, but rather a process in which takes patience to develop.  On Monday after I finished running my mega-lap for PE, I was standing around to catch my breath while the basketball girls practiced nearby.   As I waited for the rest of my class to finish as well, I decided to take a seat and two girls seated next to me were having a conversation. The only exchange that I managed to hear (not that I was trying to eavesdrop) was when the African American girl mentioned to her friend,” I was going to try out for basketball… but I suck...  AND I’m Black so I’d just be a disappointment.” 

When she said this I felt sorry for her.  Little did she know that with practice, she’d probably end up just as good as the other girls, but for the obvious reasons, she seemed to believe that because of her ethnic background / genes, she should automatically be a great athlete.  Coincidentally, I had recently read about this subject in chapter six titled “Can White Men Jump?”

In this chapter, Shenk takes his time on emphasizing the fact that this concept is not true by individually numbering his main assertions:

“1. DESPITE APPEARANCES TO THE CONTRARY, RACIAL AND ETHNIC GROUPS ARE NOT GENETICALLY DISCRETE.

Skin color is a great deceive; actual genetic differences between ethnic and geographic groups are very, very limited.  “

"2. GENES DON’T DIRECTLY CAUSE TRAITS; THEY ONLY INFLUENCE THE SYSTEM.”

It is important for people to acknowledge these facts because being a certain ethnicity does NOT determine one’s performance.

I am glad I have come across this nonfiction book because it has given me factual detail on subjects I used to dismiss.  It has also given me self-confidence that I can legitimately do anything I set my mind to.

The Luck of the Calendar

In Outliers,by Malcolm Gladwell, Gladwell zeros in on the story behind success. One of the major factors that contribute to the amount of success a person has is what month they were born in. Gladwell uses rosters of sports teams to point out that the vast majority of the players on that roster were born in the first few months of the year. This is because there is a huge gap of development that occurs in children around the age of ten and the players that are lucky enough to be born in the early months have a huge advantage physically and mentally. This is the reason why many young players on Canadian Hockey teams were born in the first three months of the year and continue to get better at an exponential rate because they are the ones that recieve the best coaching. Ultimately the young hockey players are able to turn pro and become successful simply because they were born in the early months of the year:a trend that is evident in different sports worldwide.

Location, Location, Location

    I have always thought about what makes the well-accomplished and extremely successful people we all talk about highly so successful.  Of course hard work, determination, and persistence to achieve life goals comes into the equation of success.  It isn't surprising that a little bit luck is also a factor that comes into play; however, when reading Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, I never knew how much luck really is a factor is in the success of people such as Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.  Some examples of the types of luck a person can acquire are birth dates, location, and the success of a person's parents.  Although a person's birth date is in an unchangeable fact for a person, location is changeable.  As explained in Outliers, opportunities can arise in the location a person was raised in.
    A famous example of such a person is Steve Jobs, the co founder of Apple Computers.  He wasn't born into a wealthy family, but that type of luck wasn't a factor in Job's story.  Location was. Jobs grew up in the city of Mountain View, California, which was the epicenter of Silicon Valley.  Jobs grew up in a city filled with inspiring engineers who were observing technology is a different way.  Gladwell remarked, "Jobs came of age breathing the air of the very business he would later dominate."  This was undoubtedly true since took advantage of his location in the Silicon Valley and took summer jobs in a dominating global electronic firm.    
    Gladwell's thoughts about location being a factor to a person's success had me thinking about my own life.  What opportunities would have arisen had I been born into a rich, upper class family?  Would I have become enthralled in engineering had I grew in the Silicon Valley, like Steve Jobs?

What are your thoughts on location being a key factor in success?