Are we Really Improving on Improving?
This past season the St. Louis Blues won the Stanley Cup. The bigger story seems to be that these champions were dead last at the end of January. In the span of three months they squeaked into the NHL playoffs. In the span of just over two months they proved themselves to be the best team in hockey. This is the very definition of a fairy tale ending. So much so, that Scott Berry just walked away winning 100K from a $400 bet made at the end of January that the Blues would win the Stanley Cup (USAToday). The reason this story seems to be so compelling is because we see the world in terms of winners and losers. No matter how many times we watch Carol Dweck, the truth is that we don’t necessarily buy into the idea of growth mindset and improvement. The St. Louis Blues were not supposed to win the Stanley Cup. But, they did and they did so through a steady diet of positivity, hard work, and faith, by which they improved. As a teacher I desperately try and get my students to implement these same attitudes. I want them to be the St. Louis Blues. Sadly, despite all their skills, despite the opportunities they have at their disposal, they sometimes don’t make it into the playoffs.
For the past fifteen years teaching has embraced the idea of growth mindset and vilified the counter idea of a fixed mindset. The idea, popularized by Carol Dweck, has become a common phrase in staff meetings, curriculum development, and of course, job interviews. The very idea of growth mindset has also found itself connected to another educational buzzword: grit. In an article in Frontiers of Psychology, Angela Duckworth has defined grit as a “passion and perseverance for long-term goals”(eric.ed.gov). The very idea of passion and perseverance is where high school teachers no doubt have a problem. Betsy Ng posits that while “Growth mindset is the belief that intelligence can be nurtured through learning and effort” it works in tandem with intrinsic motivation which she argues grants us the “volition to engage in a task for inherent satisfaction”(mdpi.com). When we talk about growth mindset we use words like “mastery”, “hard work”, “embrace challenges” and “effort”. Betsy Ng even points out that these learners “perceive task setbacks as a necessary part of the learning process and they ‘bounce back’ by increasing their motivational effort”(www.mdpi.com). Just think about that for a moment. What we are describing is a confident learner. The ability to work hard to attain mastery. The ability to put in a lot of effort. The ability to bounce back. These are lovely ideas, but a rarity in high school students. Particularly given that we are now working with a generation of young people dealing with a “mental health tsunami” (neatoday.org) fueled by smart phones (apnews.com). Declining confidence brought on by mental health is hardly the conditions on which to build growth mindset. Of course, adding to this is a very rational fear of failure spearheaded by standardized tests, career goals, and an unhealthy focus on university. How do we create intrinsic learners from these conditions?
Intrinsic motivation is the ability for people to improve because they want to. Thus, they have little need for extrinsic rewards because they genuinely enjoy the essence of learning. In education, we love these people. They are inquisitive, quiet, and love learning. They are a dream, both literally and figuratively. They are rare. Betsy Ng points out that “our understanding of the underlying mechanism of intrinsic motivation is still in its infancy” (www.mdpi.com). In other words, we are not really sure how we intrinsically motivate people. In fact, Dr. Michael Karson has argued that there is “no such thing as intrinsic motivation” and that we use the term when we are unable to “identify the reinforcing consequence or schedule”(PsychologyToday). In other words, there is always some form of motivation, and sometimes we fail to see what that is. Other psychologists have argued that intrinsic motivation is connected to the idea of passion. In an article entitled “Les Passions de l’Ame: On obsessive and harmonious passion” the psychologists conducting the study point out the idea of harmonious passion and connect this idea to the “pursuance of an interest or activity by choice” adding that it “is in harmony with other aspects of the person’s life” (selfdeterminationtheory.org). So, in short, positive outcomes come from harmonious passion built on purpose and meaning.
Yet, do students buy in to this idea of growth mindset and intrinsic value? Do students really see purpose and meaning in what they do? Over the last 12 years of my teaching I have aimed to make things more “authentic” (a term I have always had issues with). My class theoretically should be overflowing with harmonious passion. But, only occasionally is this the case. According to a study done with the University of Michigan and Case Western “the academic benefits of these [growth mindset] interventions have been largely overstated.” The study furthermore adds that “there was little to no effect of mindset interventions on academic achievement for typical students”(Sciencedaily.com). Furthermore, Carl Hendricks points to Timothy Bates’ studies in China, in which he noted “People with a growth mindset don’t cope any better with failure…Kids with the growth mindset aren’t getting better grades”(Aeon.org). He even points out that there is no improvement after his team’s intervention. In short it is less about students buying in to the idea of growth mindset, but more about the failure of the idea itself. So, despite all we know about growth mindset and grit, the truth is that students are not finding it beneficial. I, however, am not sure if I am willing to throw out the metaphorical baby with the bathwater. Although the philosophy of growth mindset is not having the perceived impact that had been promised to us, I can’t help but feel growth, confidence, and actual (as opposed to perceived) improvement must help students’ growth as learners.
Kaizen is the Japanese word for “continued improvement”. According to Thomas Oppong, this practice gained popularity in the war years as American businesses built weapons for war, and continued to improve those weapons. One of the things about growth mindset and improvement is that far too often the task of improving seems insurmountable. And, as we all know from experiences of losing weight, quitting smoking, or just about anything that is difficult, it is easier to give up before failing yourself. Muhammad Ali said that it “isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe”. And, although that is true, if you are staring up from the bottom of the mountain, you are probably not thinking much about the pebbles in your shoe. This is the key to the idea of Kaizen. In the face of an insurmountable task, do not take on the task, but merely make a 1% improvement every day. Oppong noted in his 2016 article for The Mission that the Kaizen approach is evident through our society. He notes famed basketball coach John Wooden’s philosophy that “when you improve a little each day, eventually big things occur. When you improve conditioning a little each day, eventually you have a big improvement in conditioning. Not tomorrow, not the next day, but eventually a big gain is made. Don’t look for the big, quick improvement. Seek the small improvement one day at a time. That’s the only way it happens — and when it happens, it lasts”(Medium.com). It might not be sexy, and I dare say they won’t be making an inspirational movie anytime soon about a heroic figure following the Kaizen method, but who am I to argue with John Wooden?
Of course, Carol Dweck herself agrees. In a 2016 interview in The Atlantic, Dweck points out that our society has created a “false growth mindset”. She adds that teachers often believe that they “could foster growth mindset merely by telling kids to try hard” (TheAtlantic). She further explains that “student motivation is a neglected area” and that it is a “long and difficult journey”. That for me is key. Progress is a long, difficult, and hard journey. It is Muhammad Ali’s mountain. Yet, educators pushed an idea that Dweck has called a “false growth mindset”. Change is easy; just change the way you think. This to me is not only false, but dangerous to our students. If we come at difficult tasks from this standpoint, we create a false sense of security, or what Dweck calls an “oversimplification of growth mindset into just effort”. However, if it is just about effort, what happens when I fail? If we convince ourselves that we have growth mindset and yet still fail at a task then I must conclude that I am stupid. Or, if I continue with the mountain metaphor: “Hey, I can climb that mountain. I believe in myself”. It’s a lovely idea, but certainly not one that will help save you when you are shivering to death at 6000 meters up. Dweck comments that her idea has been watered down to “praise the effort”, a sentiment she says is wrong. Instead she says we must “praise the effort that led to the outcome or learning progress…It’s not just effort, but strategy”(TheAtlantic). And this, it would appear, is where education has had its issues. We have lacked strategy in building growth mindset, resilience, and wisdom in our students, and this is where the idea of Kaizen can help inform our practice.
Short-term goals have always been the key to success. We have always known that, but do our students see this? More importantly, do we communicate this? Earlier this year, my son’s basketball team started to lose games. These losses were not because of a lack of effort. The kids were sweating profusely at the end of every game and had done most of what their coaches had been asking them to do. Yet, at every practice, all the coaches would say was “you’re not trying hard enough”. The only goal was to win the next game. No tangible areas of improvement were ever established. As such, the team continued to lose, and more importantly, when the season ended and parents were asked to reflect on a most improved player, I honestly couldn’t think of one. In short, the kids were working hard, but not improving. This of course, must lead us to ask, am I this type of coach? What conditions do I create that allow students to build short term goals? Carl Hendrick cites a U.S. survey that shows “98 per cent of teachers feel that growth mindset approaches should be adopted in schools, but only 50 per cent said that they knew of strategies to effectively change a pupil’s mindset”(Aeon.co). In other words, we talk the talk, but only about half of us know how to implement these ideas. Thus, we fall back to a “false growth mindset”.
The primary issue for me is that students are still lacking the tenacity and work ethic needed to be successful. Whether or not growth mindset works or does not is secondary. The fact is that we have created a society that believes in stories of mythic proportions. Think about something like weight loss. Despite knowing that gradual change is more sustainable in accomplishing our goal, we far too often are enticed by promises of “fast” and “simple”. But, the truth is that learning, like everything else worth doing is not something that can be done on one herculean effort. It takes small steps of improvement each and every day.
We all want to be the undrafted Fred VanVleet, Kurt Warner, or James Harrison. We dream of being the underdog who rises — seemingly overnight — to greatness. We love seeing our lives played out like an emotional montage in a movie. What we don’t want to see are the hours of work that are put into minuscule improvement. The truth is that life is hard. School is hard. Professional sports is hard. The Arts are hard. To achieve success in these fields you must work to improve. You must take small management steps to improve. I am not sure who will win next year’s Stanley Cup, next year’s NBA championship, or next year’s Super Bowl. But, I can tell you that those champions are working today on improving their skills, even if it is 1% at a time.
Works Cited:
Flannery, Mary Ellen. “The Epidemic of Anxiety Among Today’s Students.” NEA Today, National Education Association, 18 June 2019, http://neatoday.org/2018/03/28/the-epidemic-of-student-anxiety/.
Allen, Kevin. “Fan Wins $100,000 as Blues Take Stanley Cup; He Refused to Sell Ticket or Hedge His Bet.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 13 June 2019, https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nhl/2019/06/08/blues-bruins-stanley-cup-betting/1391356001/.
Hochanadel, Aaron, and Dora Finamore. “Fixed and Growth Mindset in Education and How Grit Helps Students Persist in the Face of Adversity.” Journal of International Education Research, Clute Institute. 30 November 2014, https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1051129.
Gross-Loh, Christine. “How Praise Became a Consolation Prize.” TheAtlantic.com, The Atlantic, 16 Dec. 2016, https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/12/how-praise-became-a-consolation-prize/510845/.
Karson, Michael. “The Myth of Intrinsic Motivation.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 10 Jan. 2014, https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/feeling-our-way/201401/the-myth-intrinsic-motivation.
Ng, Betsy. “The Neuroscience of Growth Mindset and Intrinsic Motivation.” MDPI, Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute, 26 Jan. 2018, https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/8/2/20.
Crow, Sherry R. “Relationships That Foster Intrinsic Motivation for Information Seeking.” School Libraries Worldwide, vol. 15, no. 2, 2009, http://selfdeterminationtheory.org/.
Hendrick, Carl. “Schools Love the Idea of a Growth Mindset, but Does It Work? — Carl Hendrick: Aeon Essays.” Aeon, Aeon, 5 Jan. 2020, https://aeon.co/essays/schools-love-the-idea-of-a-growth-mindset-but-does-it-work.
Thompson, Carolyn. “Schools Reckon with Social Stress: ‘I’m on My Phone so Much’.” AP NEWS, Associated Press, 7 June 2019, https://www.apnews.com/965e2fdfb503482bb4621aa50b0c097b.
Michigan State University. “Study finds popular ‘growth mindset’ educational interventions aren’t very effective.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 22 May 2018. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/05/180522114523.htm
Oppong, Thomas. “The Kaizen Approach to Achieving Your Biggest Goal (The Philosophy of Constant Improvement).” Medium, Mission.org, 22 Aug. 2017, https://medium.com/the-mission/the-kaizen-approach-to-achieving-your-biggest-goal-the-philosophy-of-constant-improvement-172033f8346.
