What you say is all true true. It's also orthogonal to my concerns. I am willing to assume that having a growth mindset works 100% and makes everyone's lives better. That doesn't necessarily mean it should be encouraged.
A "growth mindset" is a scientific belief. It's not a personality trait, a positive outlook, or some sort of optimism. It is the belief that intelligence can be improved through hard work.
(You may notice that I consistently have "growth mindset" in scare quotes. A "growth mindset" is a scientific belief, and I wouldn't call it a "mindset" any more than I'd say doctors have a "germ theory mindset" or physicists have a "Copenhagen mindset.")
How intelligence works is a scientific problem. Encouraging a "growth mindset" because it makes students do better means weighing in on one side of the debate just because we like its conclusions.
If intelligence is largely fixed, as I believe it is, then encouraging a growth mindset means lying to people because we think they can't handle the truth. That might be the right thing to do, but it's a dangerous habit to get into.
A "growth mindset" is a scientific belief. It's not a personality trait, a positive outlook, or some sort of optimism. It is the belief that intelligence can be improved through hard work.
(You may notice that I consistently have "growth mindset" in scare quotes. A "growth mindset" is a scientific belief, and I wouldn't call it a "mindset" any more than I'd say doctors have a "germ theory mindset" or physicists have a "Copenhagen mindset.")
How intelligence works is a scientific problem. Encouraging a "growth mindset" because it makes students do better means weighing in on one side of the debate just because we like its conclusions.
If intelligence is largely fixed, as I believe it is, then encouraging a growth mindset means lying to people because we think they can't handle the truth. That might be the right thing to do, but it's a dangerous habit to get into.