(1)She gave the ten-year-old students a problem that was just a bit too hard for them and saw two different reactions from the students. From those employing a growth mindset, Dweck received a very positive response: “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” (0:35). In the face of struggle, these kids rose to the challenge with confidence putting in their best effort. For most other kids, though, it was a very different experience: “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” (0:35). When faced with adversity, those who were using a growth mindset excelled.

(2)In the past, one was not so defined by their political and social beliefs. Lukianoff and Haidt write, “Republicans and Democrats have never particularly liked each other, but survey data going back to the 1970’s show that on average, their mutual dislike used to be surprisingly mild” (para. 13). The significant increase of division among political parties we’ve seen in the last few decades is called “affective partisan polarization” (para. 13). The result of this is two parties constantly demonizing and scrutinizing each other to make themselves look better, and in turn, causing any sort of political compromise to be harder to achieve.

Lastly, Dweck comments, “First of all, we can praise wisely, not praising intelligence or talent… prais[e] the process that kids engage in, their effort, their strategies, their focus, their perseverance, their improvement.” I agree that we should be encouraging the process of a problem. Being able to fail is an important aspect of success. But also think that praising those who do well is good to a certain extent. We want students to succeed, but we shouldn’t make it all about the outcome.

“The Coddling” suggests we should “strongly discourage trigger warnings” (para. 70). In my opinion, yes, we shouldn’t be putting trigger warnings on every video or book that has the slightest chance of making someone feel uncomfortable. It is unrealistic to avoid discomfort in life, so why should we pretend that human history doesn’t contain times of brutality.