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The power of yet.
-
I heard about a high school in Chicago
-
where students had to pass
a certain number of courses to graduate,
-
and if they didn't pass a course,
they got the grade "Not Yet."
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And I thought that was fantastic,
-
because if you get a failing grade,
you think, I'm nothing, I'm nowhere.
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But if you get the grade "Not Yet"
-
you understand that
you're on a learning curve.
-
It gives you a path into the future.
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"Not Yet" also gave me insight
into a critical event early in my career,
-
a real turning point.
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I wanted to see
-
how children coped with a challenge
and difficulty,
-
so I gave 10-year olds
-
problems that were
slightly too hard for them.
-
Some of them reacted
in a shockingly positive way.
-
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.
-
So what do they do next?
-
I'll tell you what they do next.
-
In one study, they told us
they would probably cheat the next time
-
instead of studying more
if they failed a test.
-
In another study, after a failure,
-
they looked for someone
who did worse than they did
-
so they could feel really
good about themselves.
-
And in study after study,
they have run from difficulty.
-
Scientists measured
the electrical activity from the brain
-
as students confronted an error.
-
On the left, you see
the fixed mindset students.
-
There's hardly any activity.
-
They run from the error.
-
They don't engage with it.
-
But on the right, you have
the students with the growth mindset,
-
the idea that abilities can be developed.
-
They engage deeply.
-
Their brain is on fire with yet.
-
They engage deeply.
-
They process the error.
-
They learn from it and they correct it.
-
How are we raising our children?
-
Are we raising them for now
instead of yet?
-
Are we raising kids who are
obsessed with getting A's?
-
Are we raising kids who don't know
how to dream big dreams?
-
Their biggest goal is getting the next A
-
or the next test score?
-
And are they carrying this need
-
for constant validation with them
-
into their future lives?
-
Maybe, because employers
are coming to me and saying,
-
"We have already raised a generation
-
of young workers who
can't get through the day
-
without an award."
-
So what can we do?
-
How can we build that bridge to yet?
-
Here are some things we can do.
-
First of all, we can praise wisely,
not praising intelligence or talent.
-
That has failed.
-
Don't do that anymore.
-
But praising the process
that kids engage in:
-
their effort, their strategies,
their focus, their perseverance,
-
their improvement.
-
This process praise
-
creates kids who are hardy and resilient.
-
There are other ways to reward yet.
-
We recently teamed up with game scientists
-
from the University of Washington
-
to create a new online math game
that rewarded yet.
-
In this game, students were rewarded
-
for effort, strategy, and progress.
-
The usual math game
-
rewards you for getting
answers right right now,
-
but this game rewarded process.
-
And we got more effort,
-
more strategies,
-
more engagement over
longer periods of time,
-
and more perseverance when
they hit really, really hard problems.
-
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.
-
And we can actually
change students' mindsets.
-
In one study, we taught them
-
that every time they push
out of their comfort zone
-
to learn something new and difficult,
-
the neurons in their brain can form
new, stronger connections,
-
and over time they can get smarter.
-
Look what happened: in this study,
-
students who were not
taught this growth mindset
-
continued to show declining grades
over this difficult school transition,
-
but those who were taught this lesson
showed a sharp rebound in their grades.
-
We have shown this now,
-
this kind of improvement,
-
with thousands and thousands of kids,
-
especially struggling students.
-
So let's talk about equality.
-
In our country, there are
groups of students
-
who chronically underperform,
-
for example, children
in inner cities, or children
-
on Native American reservations.
-
And they've done so poorly for so long
-
that many people think it's inevitable.
-
But when educators create
growth mindset classrooms
-
steeped in yet,
-
equality happens.
-
And here are just a few examples.
-
In one year, a kindergarten class
-
in Harlem, New York,
-
scored in the 95th percentile
-
on the National Achievement Test.
-
Many of those kids could not hold a pencil
-
when they arrived at school.
-
In one year,
-
fourth grade students in the South Bronx,
-
way behind, became the number one
-
fourth grade class
in the state of New York
-
on the state math test.
-
In a year to a year and a half,
-
Native American students
in a school on a reservation
-
went from the bottom of their district
to the top,
-
and that district included
affluent sections of Seattle.
-
So the native kids outdid
the Microsoft kids.
-
This happened because the meaning
-
of effort and difficulty were transformed.
-
Before, effort and difficulty
-
made them feel dumb,
made them feel like giving up,
-
but now, effort and difficulty,
-
that's when their neurons
are making new connections,
-
stronger connections.
-
That's when they're getting smarter.
-
I received a letter recently
from a 13-year old boy.
-
He said, "Dear Professor Dweck,
-
I appreciate that your writing is based
on solid scientific research,
-
and that's why I decided
to put it into practice.
-
I put more effort into my schoolwork,
-
into my relationship with my family,
-
and into my relationship
with kids at school,
-
and I experienced great improvement
in all of those areas.
-
I now realize I've wasted
most of my life."
-
Let's not waste any more lives,
-
because once we know
-
that abilities are capable
of such growth,
-
it becomes a basic human right
-
for children, all children,
-
to live in places that create that growth,
-
to live in places filled with yet.
-
Thank you.
-
(Applause)
Krystian Aparta
The English transcript was updated on 12/21/2016.