I was always told I was smart when I was a kid, and very little focus was put on seeing things through or being a hard worker (other than conceptually).

Anecdote in support of the article's hypothesis: I'm blabbing about myself instead of working on a cool idea I had this morning. Sigh.

One of the reasons why, looking back, I appreciate going to engineering at UofT, which is very academically focused. I was taken several notches down from being a 'smart kid' in HS to 'average' in Uni, which I noticed was due to my work ethic, since I wasn't significantly smarter or dumber than most people.

One of the things I remember from the very beginning of first year is professors saying how engineering was good because after 4 years you'd learn enough to get a junior position and actually start learning. I thought they were just screwing with us frosh, but after 4 tough years, I saw how right they were and I realized that I really learned two things:

1) how to learn

2) that I know nothing.

In addition to the work and learning over innate smarts mindset, it is also good to know what kind of environment you need to actually learn and excel. Some people might have enough curiosity and work ethic to learn and do a lot while left to their own devices, whereas other people might need to be an environment where they're being pushed.

I agree with the kid.

School is supposed to teach you things. The important part is whether you learn those things, not whether you are willing to demonstrate repeatedly, ad nauseam that you have already (and usually long ago) learned those things. I was the kid in the example; I excelled on tests, and continue to, through a combination of basic common sense and having actuallyunderstood the subject matter, and found my own uses for it, outside of the curriculum.

When you can understand, and apply, concepts just by reading the textbook (or the appropriate Wikipedia article), this obviates the need for both teachers, lessons and homework. Those in power like that even less than the teachers themselves, and created the No Child Left Ahead act to "fix" this.

Totally agree on the growth mindset.

"Live like you were going to die tomorrow.

Learn like you were going to live forever."

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=84655

Yes, Dweck's work is pretty cool.

I wrote something (with a cool graph by Holmes) about this a while ago:

http://michaelgr.com/2007/04/15/fixed-mindset-vs-growth-mind...

Still gets the most hits on my site after over a year..

I have already seen this post before. I am glad it was re posted since every time I ready it, it allows me to reflect on this.

http://www.metafilter.com/58583/Youre-so-smart-you-probably-...

Similar story by same author with some interesting comments from the blue.

article mentions 'learned helplessness'. read Singer's 'Writings on an Ethical Life' for some background on this or have a look at a Google search result - http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2768 Basically, random electrical shocks to dogs induce a state of 'learned helplessness' or in everyday speak - complete pyschological collapse during a particularly cruel expt.

This was also in New York Magazine and posted here quite a while ago. Great article though.

this is old...the "reward the work" meme has been floating around for a while

but make sure your kids' school emphasizes this....your kids spend forty hours a week, their most alert and focused hours at school