Martinez
Karen Martinez
Heather Aguailar
English V01A
29 January 2019
Cancerous Ideas: Killing Or Saving The Mindset?
Some People believe that those with learning disabilities are not capable of doing what “normal people” do. Perhaps they feel they do not have the ability to become successful because of their own individual learning disabilities which creates a cancerous idea. Although there are many cancerous ideas, a common cancerous idea society has created is that college is for everybody but in reality college is not for everybody and the people that choose not to go to college can become successful without college education. In Adriel Hilton’s article, “Prominent Scholar Calls Growth Mindset A “Cancerous” Idea, In Isolation”, he describes Dr. Luke Woods opinion of the “Growth Mindset” concept. Dr. Woods believes that growth mindset is not exactly an incorrect concept but it is incomplete. He believes that students will learn and be successful through the concept of having the ability to be successful instead of working hard and putting effort to be successful. Teaching students that they need effort to succeed is a cancerous idea according to Dr. Luke Woods because it takes away the idea from students that there are obstacles in life that ruins their ability to become successful. On the other hand, however, others argue that a growth mindset is the key to success for students and is the key to encourage students to learn. My own view is that some students work hard to be successful but some do not have the abilities to become successful do to restrictions; therefore, people choose to let students know that working hard will make students successful, ignoring the concept that students need to have the abilities to become successful.
According to Dweck, a growth mindset is the idea that students become successful by personal belief systems that support success. Even more, students can improve learning skills instead of having a fixed mindset, which refers to students believing in a mindset that cannot be change or improved. Woods believes that students should know about abilities to become successful because some students are not aware of the restrictions that may be present. Dr. Luke Woods finds it important for students to fill the gap of a growth mindset by knowing the concept of having the abilities is the key to becoming successful. In Dr. Hilton article, “Prominent Scholar Calls Growth Mindset A “Cancerous” Idea, In Isolation”, Dr. Adriel Hilton describes Dr. Woods stating that, “if you are a person who has never been told that you have the ability to do work, how will you able to do so?”(Hilton). Dr. Woods is describing that it is important to let the student know that they have the ability because if a student does not have the knowledge about not having the ability, the student will become overwhelmed and stuck which leads to giving up on themselves. Dr. Woods also describes how, “We need to praise their effort and ability. If...
