Planet Numeracy

When students marvel at the high scores of a classmate on a test, I often hear something along the lines of, "They're so lucky. They're smart." That usually gets them my "Really?" response. As if good scores have nothing to do with the hard work of paying attention, doing the work, and sticking with it until... That is a classroom example seeing the event (i.e., the good test score) while seemingly ignoring the process that created it (i.e., paid attention, did the work, never gave up). Struggling students confuse or conflate events and processes. This comes from a victim mentality. Students earning good scores understand that practice is the thing they do to get good, not the thing they do after they're good. Too many people wait for something good to serendipitously happen in order to try hard, not understanding that trying hard was what caused the something good. This is because they have conflated processes with events. Let's first distinguish between fixed and growth mindsets. Fixed Mindset (a.k.a. scarcity mentality) Truly, this is easy to know unless your narrative has been poisoned. As I mentioned above, I suspect that those who can't (or won't) figure it out, probably suffer from an acquired victim mentality. They have fixed mindset. A fixed mindset is when students think that they cannot get any better. They believe that they have all that they will ever have and nothing will change that. They often discount the high marks of others as "just being smart." I don't know about you, but my parents did not order me the "math module" from the hospital at birth. The little guy never gets ahead... The fixed mindset is also marked by scarcity thinking. As such, people with fixed mindsets (both students and adults) tend to focus on events. They believe that good events are the result of the good luck of having "been chosen." They are ignorant of the processes that led to the events. But likely, it's a perceived victimhood that causes them to be completely oblivious that there even could have been a process. Growth Mindset (a.k.a. abundance mentality) Students who earn good results usually have growth mindsets. I feel that I can't continue without mentioning Carol Dweck's research and her book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Dr. Dweck coined fixed versus growth mindset in her research. Students with growth mindset don't have meltdowns over a low score on a quiz or test. They see it as an opportunity to learn. Roma uno die non est condita. The growth mindset is also marked by abundance thinking. This mindset embraces the old aphorism, "Rome wasn't built in a day." This acknowledges that time is needed to build great things. For instance, you may not be able to bench press 225 pounds yet. But if you keep bodybuilding, you will get there. That's why the third of Noldy 3 P's is perseverance. Giving up is the only way to fail. Naturally, this doesn't preclude pivoting during the process. Putting on blinders does not allow you to see other options that branch off from your path that may be better. Did I just witness an event or a process? This is perhaps best explained with a few more examples... In 2022, Aaron Judge broke the NY Yankees record for most homeruns in a season. The event, of course, is the 62 homeruns during the 2022 MLB season. The process is the decades of practice, weight-lifting, solid nutrition, good supplementation, etc... The seasons and season of game time experience in the minors and the majors... the sacrifice of practicing when his friends were out partying... going to bed when others were going to the movies... People with a growth mindset can empathize with how Aaron Judge achieved this feat. They know that Judge was not an overnight success. They realize that there was a process. Those with a fixed mindset likely say he got lucky or cheated, or something like that. Get the picture? In 1993, the Dallas Cowboys destroyed a very good Buffalo Bills team 52-17. The event was the one-sided blowout by the Cowboys. The process was the dismantling of the old guard with Tom Landry followed by the acquisition of Coach Jimmy Johnson and new players like Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, and Michael Irvin over the course of previous seasons. Growth mindset folks agree that a process occurred to make this winning happen. Fixed mindset types say they could have coached the 1992-93 Cowboys to a Super Bowl win and so on. Shall I continue? Any time that you hear someone chalking someone's accomplishment up to luck, cheating, etc., you might be in the company of someone with a fixed mindset.