Growth Mindset...Our Minds Are a Savage Garden

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Carol Dweck's Growth Mindset is ironic. At least the presentation of the idea is ironic in the sense that a concept, built on the dichotomy of two praise models, can develop growth from one praise model over the other. Growth is the expression of the divisional increase of parts of a whole. On a fundamental level, a binary system can experience growth by only rendering a repetition of just one part of the system. In contrast, the system can double its growth by employing the expansion of both parts. In my opinion, Dweck's concept of promoting only one part of a dichotomous model runs the risk of not seeing it reach its full growth potential. Anecdotally speaking, we are living in a time where our use of media has helped nurture a satisfaction for seeing issues as only two sided and I see Dweck's Grow Mindset as being presented in that way (Disclaimer: perhaps it is my own fixed mindset bias that helps me perceive it this way). Reading Alfie Kohn's critique of Dweck's Growth Mindset, helps substantiate my claim.

In his article, The "Mindset" Mindset, Kohn describes problems with Dweck's theory as being "generic claims" that underestimate the complexity of a learning environment. Kohn goes on to offer other factors that play into the learning narrative that include the effect of preconceived notions. For example, Kohn states in his conclusion, "the real alternative to [the fixed mindset] isn't a different attitude about oneself: it's a willingness to go beyond individual attitudes, to realize that no mindset is a magic elixir that can dissolve the toxicity of structural arrangements." Kohn isn't stating that Dweck is wrong, however, he acknowledges that she isn't effectively addressing a whole issue.

Anne Rice expresses the complexity and consequences of the human ability to learn through the voice of the vampire Marius in her book, The Vampire Lestat." Marius claims, "The mind of each man is a Savage Garden...in which all manner of creatures rise and fall, and anthems are sung and things imagined that must finally be condemned and disavowed." In the spirit of Marius' proclamation, I believe that the Growth Mindset can enable the imagination by motivating a fundamental part of the human psyche, but one must be encouraged not to devalue, through over-simplification, the "Savage Garden" of man. We should see the human mind and the environment in which it grows for the complex parts they are. Equally we should recognize the propensity to let our  ideas come and go when lack a mental framework for them to grow. Finally, We should take Dweck's acknowledgment of these parts and use them as a stepping stone in the learning process by recognizing what may not work in order to know what will, whether that fits into Dweck's Growth Mindset or not.