Counterproductive school mindsets: one of the most important forms of education are positive sum mindsets
/By Duncan Anderson. To see all blogs click here.
Reading time: 8 mins
Summary: Whether you know it or not, there are likely principles / mindsets governing the events in your life. A counterproductive principle / mindset can make it very hard to have a good outcome. I believe building a positive sum ecosystem, with the right principles and helpful not harmful mindsets, is one key to building a good life and improving the common good.
Harmful Mindsets / Principles often inculcated at school that I think are useful to try and undo / level up!
Details on this below on each of these
The idea of growth mindset is now well known in schools, and I don’t know of a school that isn’t trying to help build growth mindsets, so things aren’t as bad as the 90s, but IMO on average schools and people can still do much better at ‘moving towards the green’.
Jingle: Either you manage your mindsets or your mindsets manage you!
Outcome = 1. External event => 2. Principles / Mindsets => 3. How you process
I used to spend lots of time trying to have good output… and wasn’t even aware of mindsets!
Now I spend significant time trying to discover and build helpful mindsets and principles.
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Details
Outcome = 1. External event => 2. Principles / Mindsets => 3. How you process
They say that ‘mindsets are psychological prisons’.
“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” ― Carl Jung
I didn’t realise that a principle / mindset was significantly affecting almost all of my life until starting ~ 10 years ago.
What Duncan 15 years ago thought: Outcome = 1. External event => 2. Principles / Mindsets => 3. How you process
What Duncan today thinks: Outcome = 1. External event => 2. Principles / Mindsets => 3. How you process
An example of a mindset / principle
I’m a fan of “Cultural Foundations of Learning, East and West” by Jin Li.
Li shows how the western canon of literature purports that “learning privileges those who have superior ability” AKA fixed mindset. While the eastern canon purports “learning does not privilege anyone and neither does it discriminate against anyone. Everyone is capable of seeking and achieving knowledge regardless of one's inborn capacity and social circumstances” AKA growth mindset.
Many of the stories we have grown up with, in books, songs, movies etc in the west say ‘someone’ is born great at sport / music / academics / etc or not. While in the east the books, signs, movies, etc someone does well at sport / music / academics / etc it is through the hard work of levelling themselves up.
“By explicitly stating hidden assumptions of Western culture, Li not only deftly expresses how well she understands you (which can be a bit unnerving), but demonstrates how your most deeply held beliefs, so deep that you would not have even considered them beliefs but obvious truisms, not only don't have to be accepted by other cultures, but in fact usually aren't.”
Hmmm, what kind of inculcation / indoctrination are we reinforcing in young people? Is it locking them in a prison or setting them free? Are we opening people's minds or closing them?
A summary of “Cultural Foundations of Learning, East and West” by Education Bookcast.
Chinese learning attitudes:
Number one, learning is the most important thing in life, it is life's purpose.
Number two, learning enables one to become a better not just smarter person. The ultimate purpose of learning is to self perfect and to contribute to others at the same time.
Number three, learning is a lifelong process. It starts early in life and continues throughout one's life.
Number four, the kind of knowledge that sets one person apart from another does not come to one automatically, one must seek it. seeking knowledge requires resolve, diligence, endurance, or hardship, steadfastness, concentration, and humility. One must have what the Chinese call a heart and mind for wanting to learn or how she has seen a passion for learning.
Number five, learning does not privilege anyone and neither does it discriminate against anyone. Everyone is capable of seeking and achieving knowledge regardless of one's inborn capacity and social circumstances.
Number six, one begins the learning process as a beneficiary from others dedicated guidance, but one will become a benefactor to others learning and self cultivation as one matures, making harmony with the world.
Now, here are the traditional western notions:
Number one, human curiosity about the external world is the inspiration for knowledge.
Number two, relentless spirit of inquiry will lead to knowledge.
Number three, mind has the highest human faculty that enables this inquiry.
Number four, reason not heart, is the process by which we know the world
Number five, learning privileges those who have superior ability, and
Number six, the individual is the sole entity for inquiring, discovering, and ultimate triumph.
Comment:
Which of these attitudes do you think is going to lead to better learning (mindset) outcomes?
Oh god, how much of this socio-cultural indoctrination is reinforced around me!?!
As another example of cultural (socio cultural programming differences), on average children of Chinese parents have the highest motivation to do a task when their mother has input, and western children have the lowest motivation when their mother has input!
What I believe is common/traditional for schools in the west to inculcate vs A better outcome (how on average I think the world is)
Growth mindset vs Fixed Mindset
Fixed mindset = one's mental abilities are set and cannot be changed.
Growth mindset = one’s mental abilities can be developed.
Or the best graphic I’ve seen on growth mindset!
Zero sum mindset vs Positive sum mindset
Before the industrial revolution on average the world was zero sum. Eg. there was a fixed amount of food produced by nature, if you took more someone else got less. ie. the pie size is fixed. Then we could mass produce food/intensively farm, aka positive sum.
Now the world is on average positive sum. What this means is that on average the more capable everyone’s minds the more humanity can do. ie. the pie size grows based on human abilities. So technological progress isn’t limited as much by resources, but more by human ability.
One outcome: don’t compare yourself to someone else and say they are better at maths than me, we want everyone to be as good at maths as possible. More knowledgeable people are the better outcome for everyone.
For more see: Positive Sum Mindset vs Zero Sum Mindset
I’m good / bad vs The trajectory of my growth is what matters
In almost all mental pursuits you start at Level Zero.
For ceilingless areas, you can level up indefinitely.
So what matters is if you are levelling up, not if someone is currently at a higher level than you (AKA they are good and you are bad).
You are ‘good’ at things where you have done the work to level up.
You are ‘bad’ at things where you have yet to level up.
There is a limit vs Things are limitless
Traditional testing has a limit of 100%. Assignments often are given an arbitrary grade or % based on capabilities.
But in reality most things are limitless (aka ceilingless). There will likely always be more maths to invent, the best book today isn’t only twice as good as an average book, it’s more like 100x or 1000x… and the best book ever is yet to be written.
There is a right / wrong answer vs There is no answer
Again, often there needs to be an artificial ‘right’ answer for a test.
When you are trying to eg figure out the best way to improve education I don’t think there is a ‘right’ answer. Just your current best view of how to help.
Questions you cannot answer are much better than answers you cannot question.
External reward on outcome vs Internal reward on effort and trajectory
External reward is a grade on a test at school.
But I think you want to link your motivation to how hard you tried (effort is the secret to life) and whether this effort is being done well. It’s hard to be the person who never gives up!
Feedback is a dressing down vs Feedback is a way to help people level up
Often at school feedback is why you are getting marked down from an A+ or a 10/10. If you can show why their feedback is wrong then you can ‘claw back the mark’. So you are often trying to show why the work you did doesn’t have problems. This is classic ‘defence mode’ or zero zum.
At work hopefully feedback is to try and help you level up. It’s not something to defend against, it’s something to try and understand incorporate!
… I’m sure there are more.
If you only take away one thing
I find that often one of the first things to address with people who are new to the workforce are the mindsets / principles they may or may not be aware they have from the traditional education system. If you don’t address this I can find you are often ‘pushing on a string’ when trying to help someone level up and to build a positive sum ecosystem.
Also, I think we should try and figure out what the most helpful principles / mindsets are and how to incorporate them into all education settings... if only someone was building an education company that might be able to help here ;).