Category: ENG 110 Blog Posts

1. “Just the words “yet” or “not yet,” we’re finding, give kids greater confidence, give them a path into the future that creates greater persistence.” I agree with Dweck’s idea here because this outlook on a situation allows students to have an open/growth mindset and gives the kids more confidence and more of a willingness to do well. I agree that giving kids greater confidence will allow them to do better in school because of my experience in school and having low confidence in my work.
2. “Instead of luxuriating in the power of yet, they were gripped in the tyranny of now.” I disagree with Dweck’s idea here because most kids don’t understand how to manage their situations as well when they are young and they can’t always develop a growth mindset. Though I concede that, a growth mindset is an amazing thing to have, I still insist that kids just need some time to grow and understand the life around them before thinking about what type of mindset to have or which way to think.
3. “The expansive use of trigger warnings may also foster unhealthy mental habits in the vastly larger group of students who do not suffer from PTSD or other anxiety disorders.” I agree with Lukianoff/Haidt’s ideas here because trigger warnings are being misused in educational settings due to the oversensitivity of some people. Lukianoff/Haidt’s theory of trigger warnings with using PTSD is extremely useful because it sheds light on the difficult problem of the misuse of trigger warnings.
4. “…asking her fellow professors at Harvard not to teach rape law—or, in one case, even use the word violate (as in “that violates the law”) lest it cause students distress.” I disagree with this idea in Lukianoff/Haidt’s article because it goes against what the class needs to teach about, the real world issues. Although I can agree with some of these ideas up to a point, I cannot accept the idea that everyone is triggered by rape law and that it should not be taught in a law class.

Both the speaker, Carol Dweck, and the authors who wrote “The Coddling of the American Mind,” Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt, make points and give examples about a growth mindset and a fixed mindset. Dweck is a big advocate for spreading the concept of having a growth mindset. In her TED Talk, Dweck says that phrases like “I love a challenge” and “You know, I was hoping this would be informative,” are examples of what she calls are growth mindset. She believes changing your mindset and looking at different perspectives can change a lot about how you act and how you will succeed in life. Dweck encourages people to engage, process, learn, and correct their mistakes. Dweck’s ideas about a fixed mindset come into play when reading “The Coddling of the American Mind.” In this reading, Lukianoff and Haidt give examples of what Dweck calls a fixed mindset. Dweck says that these people “..run from the error. They don’t engage with it.” In “The Coddling of the American Mind,” the authors talk about the ‘solutions’ to the fixed mindset people. These ‘solutions’ include using trigger warnings, which may be helpful in some cases but can prove unhelpful in many. Many trigger warnings used recently are unnecessary, but are used due to the sensitivity of many closed minded people, or people with a fixed mindset. The authors describe these people as trying to “…. scrub campuses clean of words, ideas, and subjects that might cause discomfort or give offense.” Many students and people in that generation now are very closed minded to the real world issues around them, which is not a good thing. These two readings work very well together in my opinion because they show the differences with examples of both fixed and growth mindsets.

All of the articles we have read so far definitely go between having a growth or having a fixed mindset. Since reading Dweck’s TED talk, I have been noticing in everything else I have been reading that these ideas are central to our everyday lives. Whether an article or post talks about it, you can pick out the author or the character’s mindsets fast. I definitely think having a growth mindset is key to being successful and learning in higher education. My point of view is agreeing on with authors of “The Coddling of the American Minds” side of viewing our generation and how the generations have changed as we grow up. There is a lot of backlash at both of these articles because of people’s feelings and being too harsh in certain situations. People also may argue how everyone thinks and behaves and acts and feels differently about any given situation. I think that “The Coddling of the American Mind” does a good job of showing how and why people have fixed mindsets. My perspective on higher approaches in education is to have a growth mindset. Be open to trying new things and meeting new people and challenge yourself. If we do not do this while being educated, we are only learning academics and we are not learning life skills.

In “The Difference Between Coddling and ‘Safe Spaces,'” the author, Roth, tries to promote a growth mindset on campuses. “Like families, campus cultures are different, but all should promote a basic sense of inclusion and respect that enables students to learn and grow – to be open to ideas and perspectives so that the differences they encounter are educational.” He calls this a feeling of “safe enough.” This feeling allows students to avoid being coddled and grow into adults. He shows how it is okay to have a safe space for students, but how the space shouldn’t be too safe and should not coddle students. Dweck wants students to understand that “abilities can be developed.” By having a growth mindset, students open themselves up to more things around them and are more likely to succeed and excel in what they do. I liked these two quotes from the readings because I think they perfectly explain what each reading is about. The second part of quote from Roth’s reading is essentially Dweck’s definition of a growth mindset.

1. The authors break down critical thinking to allow one to ground his or her beliefs in facts instead of because of emotion and allows them to evaluate those facts. Personally, I think critical thinking is about thinking deeply to form your own opinion on something based off of facts and/or evidence to come to your own conclusion. The authors think that critical thinking on campus is harder due to essentially students’ sensitivity. The authors talk a lot about how this generation cannot take a joke or think too much into what people say. They tend to jump to conclusions and report their peers or even their professors which does not end well for those involved, usually resulting in a suspension. “….Subjective feelings are not always trustworthy guides; unrestrained, they can cause people to lash out at others who have done nothing wrong.” Those who are sensitive to what others say around them may not even have any solid proof of a “threat,” but may just feel like it is. There is no evidence to what people say or how people say it because there is no proof unless it is on video. In this generation, it is more likely for there to be some sort of proof or evidence with all of this technology, but that still may not be true. False allegations are still a large issue on many campuses and in many work places.
2. n/a
3. “Fortune telling and trigger warnings” are talked negatively by the authors. They say they are “anticipat[ing] that things will turn out badly” and “convinced that your prediction is an already-established fact,” and “predict[ing] the future negatively.” These quotes show how the authors think that fortune telling and trigger warnings are not beneficial to young minds, especially in college settings. Throughout the article, they explain how colleges and educators should be preparing their students for the real world instead of sheltering them from it. Everything about fortune telling and trigger warnings is about protecting those from distress. The distress of real things that happen in our society and things that happen on a daily basis. I completely agree with the authors in this article. People in this generation are way too sensitive and frankly, cannot take a joke. All of the examples in this article show the oversensitivity of the people reporting the comment made and personally I just think this is unfair. It is unfair for the person being accused to automatically be punished for the fact that there is no proof and they “hurt someone’s feelings” and now have to pay the price. One example I find absurd is the one from Bergen Community College. In short, a professor posted a picture of his daughter to his school google account and her shirt had a “threatening” saying on it from a TV show. The quote was taken as a threat the the professor was suspended. Examples like these is exactly why I think this generation is just too coddled. For someone to get offended because of a quote and then report their professor for it is something I would never think of doing.
4. Dweck’s whole TED talk is about explaining growth vs fixed mindset and how they are different and giving examples in classrooms throughout the country. “The Coddling of the American Mind” shows a fixed mindset in every way possible in my opinion. In my opinion, every example in the reading shows how students and people in this generation are closed minded or cannot open their minds to other kinds of people (fixed mindsets). They take everything too seriously. This is how Dweck initially defines a fixed vs growth mindset: “They said things like, “I love a challenge,” or, “You know, I was hoping this would be informative.” They understood that their abilities could be developed. They had what I call a growth mindset. But other students felt it was tragic, catastrophic. From their more fixed mindset perspective, their intelligence had been up for judgment, and they failed. Instead of luxuriating in the power of yet, they were gripped in the tyranny of now.” In “The Coddling of the American Mind” the section of “What can we do now?” gives the readers reasons why and how students should have growth mindsets. It explains how educators should teach their students to live in a world of danger that is full of what if situations. It also explains how people throughout the nation can change the rules and allow the generation to be more open or forcing them to be more open to topics that may cause distress, but after-all are real issues.

1. A trigger warning is a warning about content that may cause an issue to someone. A microaggression is actions or the use of certain words that do not have a bad intent but may come across as harmful. This matters in education because of the amount of students who have been coddled throughout their lives and feel like difficult topics are things that should be kept in the dark and not talked about. The authors talk about the generational differences of how children are raised and how different the younger generations are because of it. They talk about the compromise, especially in politics, becoming more difficult. “What exactly are students learning…. in a community that polices unintentional slights, places warning labels on works of classic literature, and in many other ways conveys the sense that words can be forms of violence that require strict control by campus authorities, who are expected to act as both protectors and prosecutors?” I agree with the authors completely in the sense that my generation and the few years above and below me are very sheltered. We grew up differently with especially different rules and standards and generally have closed minds to people and situations around us. No one in these generations seem strong enough to handle the real world if they cannot openly learn about the horrid things in our world.
2. Our generation is very sheltered and closed minded. “In a variety of ways, children born after 1980—the Millennials—got a consistent message from adults: life is dangerous, but adults will do everything in their power to protect you from harm, not just from strangers but from one another as well.” Due to situations like this, these children and young adults are not prepared for the real world and stressful situations dealing with these topics.
3. “The Coddling of the American Mind” shows many examples of Dweck’s idea of a fixed mindset. These new generations are very close minded to the real world things that happen around them, just because they may cause distress. These things do happen and may be more likely to happen to them if they are not well informed. Both articles reference these generations’ childhood and upbringing. Dweck says, “How are we raising our children? Are we raising them for now instead of yet?” and “The Coddling….” explains how “Childhood itself has changed greatly during the past generation.” Both quotes from both suggest how differently the generations are being brought up and how it may be causing more harm than good. While Dweck explains growth vs fixed mindsets, “The Coddling….” does a good job at showing examples of the fixed mindset part of it.
   

For this assignment, Professor Cripps wanted us to go to the Involvement Fair here on campus and talk to the officers of some clubs. Unfortunately I was unable to attend the on Friday because of a family commitment I had at home. Because of this, I had one of my friends from class, Emma Atwood, help me out by sharing some information with me about the sail club. Sadly, I do not have a selfie with members of this club or a background as to how they got started in it, but I do have some of the basic information. Upcoming events in this club are the first few meetings. These meetings take place on August 7 and August 8. During the first few meetings, they bring you out in the water and show you the basics. Gradually as you learn, they let you do things yourself. This club allows you to go at your own pace and learn new things about sailing. this club would be a new experience to me since I have never gone sailing and haven’t been on many boats in my life. I think this would be a really cool experience since our campus is right on the coast. I’m not exactly sure if I will be joining this club at this point, but it definitely is something I am going to keep in mind as I continue to look at the opportunities here at University of New England. In high school I was very involved in clubs since I do not play sports so I hope to find some clubs to join here too. I have been looking online at all of the clubs and plan to look into some others as well.

1. Growth mindset is when someone is more open to learning or experiencing something new. They persevere from their setbacks, engage themselves, and learn from their mistakes. A fixed mindset is when someone is gripped into their own thoughts and views instead of thinking of others. They run from difficulty and do not like to face challenges.
2. Dweck tells the readers to stimulate a growth mindset by “praising the process that kids engage in, their effort, their strategies, their focus, their perseverance, their improvement.” This allows the kids to grow their mindsets and create new strengths. Another way to stimulate growth mindset according to Dweck is to “push out of their comfort zones.” This makes the students learn new things and create stronger connections to what they are learning. I do not think these stimulations bother be because it is teaching kids new ways to think and get through hard situations which would overall result in a better outcome.
3. Her model of intelligence indicates that anyone can learn and become smarter when they are praised and when they are taught to think differently. This is shown when Dweck’s ideas are instituted in an elementary classroom in Harlem, New York to students who barely knew how to read and write. These students using this mindset allowed their class to become the best grade in the whole state of New York.
4. I used to have a very fixed mindset. It was hard for me to allow myself to think from someone else’s perspective. Through me having a fixed mindset, it was harder for me to communicate with my friends and family and to relate to them. These years in my life were harder for me to connect with people. Through trying to think differently and form someone else’s perspective, I able to connect easily and relate more to others around me. Having an open and growth mindset allows people to have more opportunities and connect with various types of people.