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<p>[The</a> Secret to Raising Smart Kids: Scientific American](<a href=“http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-secret-to-raising-smart-kids]The”>http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-secret-to-raising-smart-kids)</p>
<p>Interesting article.</p>
<p>If kids are very smart, though, they’re probably going to be told that they’re smart eventually. They’re going to figure it out, like kids with any other talent that gets engaged. I don’t think it’s always bad to compliment a kid’s smarts, as other talents are complimented. The key is that this needs to be coupled with, and probably outweighed by, praise for and emphasis on effort. If a kid doesn’t want to put in effort because she thinks that effort is an indicator of not being smart, something’s gone wrong.</p>
<p>One byproduct of being smart is that smart kids don’t have to put in effort to succeed academically in the early grades. Even if you’re teaching them about the importance of effort, they have no model for how to study effectively because it’s never been necessary - the work was trivial to them. The problem once they hit that wall isn’t always that they’re too arrogant to work - it’s sometimes that they never learned how to get results from work. Even if they’ve worked hard in other areas where they have less innate talent or can progress at a more self-determined pace (e.g. sports, music), the methods that one uses to get results are not quite the same from area to area. They aren’t even always the same from academic subject to academic subject.</p>
<p>One should always emphasize effort, but there’s a danger to making it all about effort (and to instilling a belief that ability is infinitely expandable). I can think of very few things that are more frustrating to hear for someone who is putting a lot of time into something than “you’re not trying hard enough”. It’s too simplistic an answer. “Let’s review your study schedule and methods to make them more effective” is a better answer. </p>
<p>And one also has to take into account that intrinsic aptitude DOES count for something - as a little kid in a summer swim league, I was tired of being the slowest on the team, so I did double practices with my team and special practices with my dad. And I improved tremendously, blew the coaches’ minds. But I could still never compare to the top swimmers in the league…I just didn’t have that kind of talent. I remember a particular college professor telling me, when I was struggling in his class despite spending far more time on the subject than most of the class, that he believed that everyone other than rare geniuses had the same level of intrinsic aptitude for his subject. I was not impressed with this belief.</p>
<p>I guess the key is that one shouldn’t let aptitude be the fall-back excuse for struggling.</p>
<p>Jessiehl, you nailed it!</p>
<p>“One byproduct of being smart is that smart kids don’t have to put in effort to succeed academically in the early grades. Even if you’re teaching them about the importance of effort, they have no model for how to study effectively because it’s never been necessary - the work was trivial to them. The problem once they hit that wall isn’t always that they’re too arrogant to work - it’s sometimes that they never learned how to get results from work.”</p>
<p>My D exactly, and I am concerned the same will be true for my 8 year old. The kids who struggled in the early gardes didn’t chafe at the work later on, while my D is a chronic procrastinator who likes to do the minimum necessary.
I am hoping college will change all that, but I’m not so sure.</p>
<p>[STANFORD</a> Magazine: March/April 2007 > Features > Mind-set Research](<a href=“http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2007/marapr/features/dweck.html]STANFORD”>http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2007/marapr/features/dweck.html)</p>
<p>I didn’t read the whole article (will later) but from the initial paragraphs & responses above I’d say it’s exactly, exactly the situation w/my son. I’d read a summary of a similar study about a year ago & have (in the past year) completely changed my interactions w/son & daughter. I no longer mention “intelligence” (even though son has 150 IQ, nailed SATs in 7th grade, blah, blah). It’s all about “trying hard” “making a good effort.” </p>
<p>I understand about innate talents being greater w/some kids than others.</p>
<p>However, my son was the textbook–never had to study through elem school (& almost never through middle school). When hit HS & faced w/honors bio & honors precalc…just didn’t have the past experience of studying hard…so bored & not inclined to. </p>
<p>He’s since reduced his honors courseload…but somehow in 11th grade is managing to pull straight As w/next to no studying (wouldn’t take full honors course load cause realized he’d have to do that ‘work’ thing).</p>
<p>Won’t make that same mistake re: my daughter!! It’s all about ‘getting it done & trying hard!’</p>
<p>I feel like the article summed up something I’d been thinking about for a long time. </p>
<p>I noticed when I enrolled my kids in the Japanese-rooted Kumon math program that one of the first rules they introduced them to was: You’re not allowed to say “I can’t”. The implication was that everyone could achieve, even though some kids might need to work harder in order to do so.</p>
<p>At the time, I remember wondering if maybe the reason Asian kids do so much better in math and science is that their parents (from what I can tell) don’t buy into the US cultural notion of “giftedness”. there seems to be much more emphasis on effort, and Asian parents seem more comfortable telling their kids, “Yes, you can do that. You just need to work harder.” </p>
<p>It was our experience that the Asian kids were also overrepresented in the gifted programs – perhaps because their parents didn’t wait for the school to “discover” their child and declare him or her gifted. They were more likely to prepare their kids for the actual gifted testing. I remember wondering if the US cultural notion of “giftedness” wasn’t, to some degree, holding American kids back.</p>
<p>I haven’t read the whole article, but the first page rather contradicts itself. I think a kid needs to get the message that they are smart (everyone is smart about something) AND that they may need to make more effort to succeed, especially in some areas. My son never had a lot of motivation for schoolwork (though he read constantly and loved to learn) until he hit HS. He knew his grades there would affect his college choices and he buckled right down. My husband always thought he should be pushed to do more work–I always thought he’d find his inner motivation in time. Whew–I was right. Or maybe just lucky.</p>
<p>I read an article that said in Asian schools, the person who is ‘in first place’ (academically) is considered to be the kid who works hardest. Very different from the American version–hoping your child hit the genetic lottery. </p>
<p>I like the Asian approach better. More room for self-determination. That’s our focus w/my 6 year old. :-)</p>
<p>For me, It wasn’t until later high school that I took classes which were difficult enough to require WORK, but knowing that my test scores were high gave me confidence that I could achieve whatever I wanted IF I applied myself. Without that knowledge, I think I would have concluded that I wasn’t capable when the answers didn’t come easily. Having not been required to work for so long, applying myself was definitely the difficult part!</p>
<p>After a childhood and adolesence of thinking I was incapable, as well as disinterested in the areas of math and science, I moved to Asia. Seeing the high level of discipline in Asia required to learn English as well as other subjects, I took that lesson back to the USA. With a certain amount of applied studying, I surprised myself by passing the science challenge tests for nursing school entrance with flying colors. </p>
<p>One of the Asian students that occasionally graces our doorstep stated she is not naturally good at math and science. As she needed a certain score for her HS entrance exam, she said she had a six month period around age 12, where she studied math 5 to 6 hours a day, with and without tutors. On the exam, she finally scored a 90 or so, which she felt was proof of her lack of ability, given the amount of study. Several times I noted her quick mind for numbers. But she scoffed at my praise, as her basis for comparison was quite different.</p>
<p>Now with my kids, I wanted to have a more ‘Asian’ approach. However, the prevailing culture tends to dominate. Somehow, I have ended up with two Ds who also avoid math and science, though their course work was arduous enough. My current love for science has been obvious in their upbringing and environment, but something else cultural or inate took over.</p>
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<p>I’ve seen a lot of Asian kids in gifted programs, and in my classes in college. I’ve also seen a lot of Asian kids sobbing, frustrated, and heartbroken after conversations with their parents any time there’s any sort of academic setback. In many cases, these students were actually putting in lots of time and effort, but the parents’ only response was to tell them that they obviously weren’t working hard enough and to shape up, often laying a guilt trip on them as well.</p>
<p>I remember coaches, and sometimes parents (either the kid’s own or other parents) laying the same sort of thing on cross-country athletes, before, during, and after races when I was in high school. I remember it being laid on me a few times by various people. It was <em>very</em> frustrating.</p>
<p>One can take a good concept to problematic extremes. Sometimes, you really <em>can’t</em>. Frequently, though, it’s not as simple as “I can” or “I can’t”. For cross-country runners, they might not be able to in their current condition - they might need specialized work on fixing their stride, increasing their flexibility, or building their quad muscles. They might have undiagnosed exercise-induced asthma that’s preventing their bodies from getting enough oxygen when they run, that needs to be diagnosed and addressed before they can improve. They might be having a problem remembering how much and when to hydrate leading up to a race, and need to review that. In any of these cases, just having them run more miles, no matter how hard they’re trying, will not significantly improve their performance. Yelling at them to try harder in a race will not improve their performance unless they’re actually slacking. Even if they do everything right, most of them will still never be in contention for the state championship…but they can improve beyond what they had previously believed.</p>
<p>Students are similar. If a student doesn’t understand the material, continuing to hack at extra problems that he doesn’t understand won’t help no matter how much effort he’s putting in to it, while going over it with a tutor to figure out where exactly his block is, might. If she’s having a problem with short-term memory that is causing her to test poorly, she needs to change her study schedule, not just “work harder”. If he has test anxiety, that needs to be addressed or it will continue to limit his performance, whatever else he does. In any case, most of them are not going to be the next Curie or Einstein or Bohr, no matter what they do - there are limits to the power of positive thinking. But a <em>properly focused</em> effort will help them go somewhat beyond what they thought they could do.</p>
<p>“One byproduct of being smart is that smart kids don’t have to put in effort to succeed academically in the early grades. Even if you’re teaching them about the importance of effort, they have no model for how to study effectively because it’s never been necessary - the work was trivial to them.”</p>
<p>I think that this is the problem - we may need to question why early grades are so undemanding. My experience with Asian countries is that the kids are challenged at a very early age. There is some evidence that children absorb best between the ages of 2 1/2 to 6. Why don’t we use that time to develop a love of learning and introduce our children to the idea of challenging themselves - appropriately, of course, according to the child’s ability?</p>
<p>Yup, those four year olds really need to be pushed. All that time wasted on play and staring at clouds could be better spent on…</p>
<p>Well…does it have to be an either/or? I am not talking about pushing here. Staring at clouds can be interesting, and so can doing a lot of enriching, learning activities. We adults are the ones that decide that one is work and the other is play. To a child, all learning can be fun, whether you are learning to play soccer, figuring out a video game, finger painting, going to the children’s museum, reading a book, or learning math games. We take something away from them when we signal that certain activities are boring and/or “work”.</p>
<p>RealMom, I agree. One possibility is the Montessori model, which (as practiced at my elementary school) abandons the idea that skills X, Y, and Z are all you need to master for grade 3. Instead, every 3d grader is supposed to be working at the outer limits of his/her ability and knowledge. The environment is not right for every kid, but a lot of these kids who are bored to death in elementary school would benefit being able to skip ahead to the next book, and the next. </p>
<p>Since I came up in that system, it’s hard for me to imagine what it would have been like to have been forced to stick to first grade books in first grade. I’m pretty confident that I would have made a LOT of trouble for the teacher and for myself (as indeed I did when I switched to a more traditional school in 7th grade).</p>
<p>The only enriching learning experience a child under 5 needs is a large cardboard box. And some other kids to share it with.</p>
<p>Is there anyone else, who–having reasonably smart and reasonably hard-working offspring–finds something just sort of . . . hmmm . . . annoying about the “lip-smacker” in the article? </p>
<p>Quotation from article: "One, in the wake of difficulty, pulled up his chair, rubbed his hands together, smacked his lips and said, ‘I love a challenge!’ "</p>
<p>Could be just me . . .</p>
<p>Not annoying to me.</p>
<p>I can’t speak for anyone else on the thread, but I’m talking about giving the kids more interesting work in grade school, not preschool.</p>
<p>There’s one exception: If I had a chance to expose a child to a second language, especially a non-Indo-European one, at that age, I’d grab it. I’m wildly jealous of my niece, who just started pre-K in a Mandarin immersion school. They do all the regular pre-K things like learning songs, coloring, etc., but in Mandarin. She and many of her classmates have no prior exposure, but love school just like other preschoolers do. IMHO, it’s a priceless, irreplaceable gift that without any effort on her part, she’ll get a lifetime of ease and fluency in Mandarin that’s nearly impossible for teens/adults to acquire even with years of hard work. I wish this trend had been around when I was little! Preschoolers have an ability to absorb a native language that they’ll lose forever, even by later in grade school.</p>
<p>Barrons, this is one place where we’re in agreement. A cardboard box, maybe some Play-doh, a pile of leaves…</p>
<p>But Hanna, if fingerpainting leads to achievement and a feeling of mastery, it aint’ fingerpainting. In my world, it leads to fun, and a mess. How that could possibly teach learning to work harder is beyond me.</p>