1
00:00:01,039 --> 00:00:03,150
The power of yet.

2
00:00:03,944 --> 00:00:06,523
I heard about a high school in Chicago

3
00:00:06,547 --> 00:00:10,699
where students had to pass
a certain number of courses to graduate,

4
00:00:10,723 --> 00:00:16,222
and if they didn't pass a course,
they got the grade "Not Yet."

5
00:00:16,246 --> 00:00:18,675
And I thought that was fantastic,

6
00:00:18,699 --> 00:00:22,460
because if you get a failing grade,
you think, I'm nothing, I'm nowhere.

7
00:00:22,484 --> 00:00:25,384
But if you get the grade "Not Yet",

8
00:00:25,408 --> 00:00:28,903
you understand that
you're on a learning curve.

9
00:00:28,927 --> 00:00:32,313
It gives you a path into the future.

10
00:00:32,337 --> 00:00:36,101
"Not Yet" also gave me insight

11
00:00:36,125 --> 00:00:40,401
into a critical event early in my career,

12
00:00:40,425 --> 00:00:42,104
a real turning point.

13
00:00:42,598 --> 00:00:44,069
I wanted to see

14
00:00:44,093 --> 00:00:49,530
how children coped
with challenge and difficulty,

15
00:00:49,554 --> 00:00:52,722
so I gave 10-year-olds

16
00:00:52,746 --> 00:00:56,275
problems that were
slightly too hard for them.

17
00:00:57,085 --> 00:01:02,084
Some of them reacted
in a shockingly positive way.

18
00:01:02,108 --> 00:01:06,108
They said things like,
"I love a challenge,"

19
00:01:06,132 --> 00:01:11,126
or, "You know, I was hoping
this would be informative."

20
00:01:11,751 --> 00:01:17,686
They understood that their abilities
could be developed.

21
00:01:17,710 --> 00:01:21,025
They had what I call a growth mindset.

22
00:01:21,581 --> 00:01:26,954
But other students felt
it was tragic, catastrophic.

23
00:01:26,978 --> 00:01:31,255
From their more fixed mindset perspective,

24
00:01:31,279 --> 00:01:35,201
their intelligence
had been up for judgment,

25
00:01:35,225 --> 00:01:36,956
and they failed.

26
00:01:38,219 --> 00:01:43,295
Instead of luxuriating
in the power of yet,

27
00:01:43,319 --> 00:01:47,365
they were gripped in the tyranny of now.

28
00:01:47,722 --> 00:01:49,650
So what do they do next?

29
00:01:49,674 --> 00:01:52,080
I'll tell you what they do next.

30
00:01:52,104 --> 00:01:58,317
In one study, they told us
they would probably cheat the next time

31
00:01:58,341 --> 00:02:02,253
instead of studying more
if they failed a test.

32
00:02:02,277 --> 00:02:05,660
In another study, after a failure,

33
00:02:05,684 --> 00:02:08,799
they looked for someone
who did worse than they did

34
00:02:08,823 --> 00:02:12,271
so they could feel really
good about themselves.

35
00:02:13,327 --> 00:02:18,604
And in study after study,
they have run from difficulty.

36
00:02:19,461 --> 00:02:25,081
Scientists measured
the electrical activity from the brain

37
00:02:25,105 --> 00:02:28,227
as students confronted an error.

38
00:02:28,251 --> 00:02:32,287
On the left, you see
the fixed-mindset students.

39
00:02:32,311 --> 00:02:34,744
There's hardly any activity.

40
00:02:34,768 --> 00:02:37,045
They run from the error.

41
00:02:37,069 --> 00:02:39,670
They don't engage with it.

42
00:02:39,694 --> 00:02:43,341
But on the right, you have the students
with the growth mindset,

43
00:02:43,365 --> 00:02:47,284
the idea that abilities can be developed.

44
00:02:47,308 --> 00:02:49,229
They engage deeply.

45
00:02:49,253 --> 00:02:52,310
Their brain is on fire with yet.

46
00:02:52,334 --> 00:02:53,962
They engage deeply.

47
00:02:54,652 --> 00:02:56,655
They process the error.

48
00:02:56,679 --> 00:03:01,235
They learn from it and they correct it.

49
00:03:01,910 --> 00:03:04,576
How are we raising our children?

50
00:03:04,600 --> 00:03:09,337
Are we raising them
for now instead of yet?

51
00:03:09,783 --> 00:03:14,897
Are we raising kids
who are obsessed with getting As?

52
00:03:14,921 --> 00:03:19,341
Are we raising kids who don't know
how to dream big dreams?

53
00:03:20,375 --> 00:03:26,779
Their biggest goal is getting the next A,
or the next test score?

54
00:03:27,311 --> 00:03:33,949
And are they carrying this need
for constant validation with them

55
00:03:33,973 --> 00:03:36,116
into their future lives?

56
00:03:36,140 --> 00:03:40,247
Maybe, because employers
are coming to me and saying,

57
00:03:40,271 --> 00:03:43,743
"We have already raised a generation

58
00:03:43,767 --> 00:03:47,849
of young workers
who can't get through the day

59
00:03:47,873 --> 00:03:50,438
without an award."

60
00:03:50,462 --> 00:03:53,445
So what can we do?

61
00:03:53,469 --> 00:03:57,253
How can we build that bridge to yet?

62
00:03:57,277 --> 00:03:59,368
Here are some things we can do.

63
00:03:59,392 --> 00:04:03,367
First of all, we can praise wisely,

64
00:04:03,391 --> 00:04:06,599
not praising intelligence or talent.

65
00:04:06,623 --> 00:04:08,433
That has failed.

66
00:04:08,457 --> 00:04:10,095
Don't do that anymore.

67
00:04:10,119 --> 00:04:14,623
But praising the process
that kids engage in,

68
00:04:14,647 --> 00:04:18,904
their effort, their strategies,
their focus, their perseverance,

69
00:04:18,928 --> 00:04:20,577
their improvement.

70
00:04:20,601 --> 00:04:26,629
This process praise creates kids
who are hardy and resilient.

71
00:04:27,344 --> 00:04:30,106
There are other ways to reward yet.

72
00:04:30,503 --> 00:04:34,777
We recently teamed up with game scientists

73
00:04:34,801 --> 00:04:36,921
from the University of Washington

74
00:04:36,945 --> 00:04:42,053
to create a new online math game
that rewarded yet.

75
00:04:42,077 --> 00:04:48,289
In this game, students were rewarded
for effort, strategy and progress.

76
00:04:48,313 --> 00:04:50,845
The usual math game

77
00:04:50,869 --> 00:04:55,275
rewards you for getting answers
right, right now,

78
00:04:55,299 --> 00:04:58,369
but this game rewarded process.

79
00:04:58,393 --> 00:05:01,160
And we got more effort,

80
00:05:01,184 --> 00:05:03,355
more strategies,

81
00:05:03,379 --> 00:05:07,273
more engagement
over longer periods of time,

82
00:05:07,297 --> 00:05:12,791
and more perseverance when they hit
really, really hard problems.

83
00:05:13,489 --> 00:05:17,083
Just the words "yet"
or "not yet," we're finding,

84
00:05:17,107 --> 00:05:20,551
give kids greater confidence,

85
00:05:20,575 --> 00:05:26,952
give them a path into the future
that creates greater persistence.

86
00:05:27,333 --> 00:05:32,069
And we can actually
change students' mindsets.

87
00:05:32,875 --> 00:05:35,212
In one study, we taught them

88
00:05:35,236 --> 00:05:39,693
that every time they push out
of their comfort zone

89
00:05:39,717 --> 00:05:43,139
to learn something new and difficult,

90
00:05:43,163 --> 00:05:48,815
the neurons in their brain
can form new, stronger connections,

91
00:05:48,839 --> 00:05:52,264
and over time, they can get smarter.

92
00:05:52,288 --> 00:05:54,791
Look what happened: In this study,

93
00:05:54,815 --> 00:05:58,568
students who were not taught
this growth mindset

94
00:05:58,592 --> 00:06:04,318
continued to show declining grades
over this difficult school transition,

95
00:06:04,342 --> 00:06:10,768
but those who were taught this lesson
showed a sharp rebound in their grades.

96
00:06:11,318 --> 00:06:17,241
We have shown this now,
this kind of improvement,

97
00:06:17,265 --> 00:06:23,492
with thousands and thousands of kids,
especially struggling students.

98
00:06:24,072 --> 00:06:27,541
So let's talk about equality.

99
00:06:28,291 --> 00:06:32,529
In our country,
there are groups of students

100
00:06:32,553 --> 00:06:35,348
who chronically underperform,

101
00:06:35,372 --> 00:06:38,520
for example, children in inner cities,

102
00:06:38,544 --> 00:06:42,003
or children on Native American
reservations.

103
00:06:42,027 --> 00:06:45,764
And they've done so poorly for so long

104
00:06:45,788 --> 00:06:48,871
that many people think it's inevitable.

105
00:06:49,404 --> 00:06:55,295
But when educators create
growth mindset classrooms

106
00:06:55,319 --> 00:06:57,690
steeped in yet,

107
00:06:57,714 --> 00:07:00,834
equality happens.

108
00:07:00,858 --> 00:07:05,003
And here are just a few examples.

109
00:07:05,027 --> 00:07:10,914
In one year, a kindergarten class
in Harlem, New York

110
00:07:10,938 --> 00:07:15,437
scored in the 95th percentile

111
00:07:15,461 --> 00:07:18,610
on the national achievement test.

112
00:07:18,634 --> 00:07:22,996
Many of those kids could not hold a pencil

113
00:07:23,020 --> 00:07:25,752
when they arrived at school.

114
00:07:25,776 --> 00:07:28,482
In one year,

115
00:07:28,588 --> 00:07:33,424
fourth-grade students
in the South Bronx, way behind,

116
00:07:33,448 --> 00:07:39,710
became the number one fourth-grade class
in the state of New York

117
00:07:39,734 --> 00:07:42,099
on the state math test.

118
00:07:43,083 --> 00:07:47,403
In a year, to a year and a half,

119
00:07:47,427 --> 00:07:52,777
Native American students
in a school on a reservation

120
00:07:52,801 --> 00:07:58,702
went from the bottom
of their district to the top,

121
00:07:59,824 --> 00:08:05,169
and that district included
affluent sections of Seattle.

122
00:08:05,193 --> 00:08:11,878
So the Native kids
outdid the Microsoft kids.

123
00:08:13,125 --> 00:08:20,125
This happened because the meaning
of effort and difficulty were transformed.

124
00:08:20,921 --> 00:08:24,616
Before, effort and difficulty

125
00:08:24,640 --> 00:08:29,817
made them feel dumb,
made them feel like giving up,

126
00:08:29,841 --> 00:08:33,599
but now, effort and difficulty,

127
00:08:33,623 --> 00:08:37,135
that's when their neurons
are making new connections,

128
00:08:37,159 --> 00:08:38,944
stronger connections.

129
00:08:38,968 --> 00:08:42,104
That's when they're getting smarter.

130
00:08:42,796 --> 00:08:48,166
I received a letter recently
from a 13-year-old boy.

131
00:08:48,190 --> 00:08:52,185
He said, "Dear Professor Dweck,

132
00:08:52,209 --> 00:08:59,158
I appreciate that your writing
is based on solid scientific research,

133
00:08:59,182 --> 00:09:04,164
and that's why I decided
to put it into practice.

134
00:09:04,188 --> 00:09:08,075
I put more effort into my schoolwork,

135
00:09:08,099 --> 00:09:11,030
into my relationship with my family,

136
00:09:11,054 --> 00:09:15,278
and into my relationship
with kids at school,

137
00:09:15,302 --> 00:09:21,748
and I experienced great improvement
in all of those areas.

138
00:09:22,440 --> 00:09:27,435
I now realize I've wasted
most of my life."

139
00:09:29,357 --> 00:09:34,348
Let's not waste any more lives,

140
00:09:35,096 --> 00:09:38,874
because once we know

141
00:09:38,898 --> 00:09:44,280
that abilities are capable of such growth,

142
00:09:44,304 --> 00:09:51,244
it becomes a basic human right
for children, all children,

143
00:09:51,268 --> 00:09:56,909
to live in places that create that growth,

144
00:09:56,933 --> 00:10:02,300
to live in places filled with "yet".

145
00:10:02,987 --> 00:10:04,138
Thank you.

146
00:10:04,162 --> 00:10:07,460
(Applause)