Mindset

New study yields instructive results on how mindset affects learning.

"According to Dweck, people's self-theories about intelligence have a profound influence on their motivation to learn. Students who hold a 'fixed' theory are mainly concerned with how smart they are—they prefer tasks they can already do well and avoid ones on which they may make mistakes and not look smart. In contrast, she said, people who believe in an 'expandable' or 'growth' theory of intelligence want to challenge themselves to increase their abilities, even if they fail at first."

And even though this wasn't really the point of the article...

"Last year, Dweck taught a freshman seminar based on Mindset. She chose 16 students from more than 100 who applied, selecting those who expressed personal motivation rather than intelligence. 'You can impress someone with how smart you are or how motivated you are, and I picked students who expressed their motivation,' she said."

Then, as my peers and I are in the midst of the college application process, thinking about those not deemed "smart" but who still have ambitious goals, thinking about myself, I thought, "Wow, if the entire world would think like that... wouldn't that be nice?"