Brainology By Carol S. Dweck And The Student Fear Factor

I never thought that I would be sitting on top of a washing machine waiting for my clothes to dry while at the same time, writing a shitty first draft essay. It’s amazing where education can take you. In my first semester of composition, I read “Brainology” by Carol S. Dweck and “The Student Fear Factor” by Rebecca Cox. In Brainology, Dweck explains that there are two different mindsets: a growth mindset and a fixed mindset. A growth mindset is when a person has a mindset that intelligence can learn their mistakes. A fixed mindset is someone who believes that they have a fixed learning amount. In “The Student Fear Factor”, Cox explains that there are different types of fear factors specific to college for each student. Every person has a …show more content…
Ever since I started pre-school, I’ve always been a high grade, top of my class, getting A’s on test student. I loved reading, in fact, one of my favorite places to be was at the public library. My favorite book series when I was a kid included were Captain Underpants, Harry Potter, and Percy Jackson and the Olympians. I 've always enjoyed reading, but when middle school arrived, that 's when the fixed mindset kicked in. The books I read, the essays I was obliged to write, the homework I was compelled to do, all became stale and boring. I did not enjoy English class anymore and as the years passed, I enjoyed reading and writing less and less. This is attributed to me having a fixed mindset. According to Carol S. Dweck in her article “Brainology”, “Many students believe that intelligence is fixed, that each person has a certain amount and that’s it. We call this fixed mindset, and, as you will see, students with this mindset worry about how much of this fixed intelligence they possess.”. When I started high school, my grades weren’t as well as in elementary school. When I learned about the different mindsets, I started to think about how my mindsets were back then and I realized that I have a fixed mindset. Even up to today, I’ve started to realize some of the actions a person with a fixed mindset has: Being lazy, getting distracted easily, can’t sit still. It’s been a habit that …show more content…
It all started in 7th grade when I struggled with fractions. The following year, I was put in “Bridge to Algebra”, which was a class for those who wasn’t ready for Algebra I, but also understands some Algebra. I passed the class so I was able to enroll in Algebra I for my freshman year. I was excited to move on to Algebra I, but I realized that everyone else in my school class was enrolled in Geometry and I was behind. What confirmed it was the fact that I was the only freshman in the class. I felt discouraged because I believed that I wasn’t smart enough and I was more discouraged when I failed that year and was doomed to take the class again, much like how most of the students in “Student Fear Factor” felt. During that time, as everyone was put in Algebra II, I wanted to catch up to everyone else. Thus I enrolled in Brigham Young University’s online course for Algebra II and I failed the course because I lost interest. Junior year, I took Geometry while everyone was in Pre-Calculus. Even though I didn’t have enough time to catch up to the rest of my class, I still tried. Over the summer, I took Algebra II at my local community college and passed, thus I was able to enroll in Precalculus during Senior year. Although I wasn’t able to take Calculus during my senior year, I was still content with the fact that I tried and as far as I could. I was happy with where I was. This made me who I am because now I realize that it