A FB friend posted an interesting Huffington Post article titled ‘The Trouble With Bright Girls‘ this morning. The premise of the piece is that “bright” girls are conditioned at a young age to throw in the towel when presented with a new topic to learn that they find challenging.
The article states:
Chances are good that if you are a successful professional today, you were a pretty bright fifth grade girl. My graduate advisor, psychologist Carol Dweck (author of “Mindset“) conducted a series of studies in the 1980s, looking at how Bright Girls and boys in the fifth grade handled new, difficult and confusing material.
She found that Bright Girls, when given something to learn that was particularly foreign or complex, were quick to give up; the higher the girls’ IQ, the more likely they were to throw in the towel. In fact, the straight-A girls showed the most helpless responses. Bright boys, on the other hand, saw the difficult material as a challenge, and found it energizing. They were more likely to redouble their efforts rather than give up.
Why is this? Because bright girls are told that they get good grades because they are smart (an inflexible, set trait), while bright boys are told that they excel because they work hard (a flexible, moldable trait).
This idea makes total sense to me, but I have to say, I think I got lucky. Being homeschooled K-9th grade gave me the opportunity to develop the ability to teach myself new concepts. I can’t begin to count the number of times my mom (my teacher) and I had the following conversation:
Me: “I don’t understand this. I need your help.”
Teacher Mom: “Did you read all the way through the lesson?”
Me: “No…but I don’t get it.”
Teacher Mom: “Try again.”
It’s a lesson I need to remember today: When at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.
Aspiring Alverna 