Been away from this forum for a while, but wanted to respond and thank Connecting Dots for kindly citing a blog post I wrote about the grit-talent dichotomy (
http://giftedchallenges.blogspot.com/2015/05/the-grit-talent-dichotomy-creating_19.html)
This thread has been great in debating the merits and problems with the mindset philosophy. I think much of the problem comes from the oversimplification of the concept, turning it into an all-or-nothing term, and demonizing giftedness, as if telling a child he/she is smart will deter the child from academic growth.
Of course it is critical to challenge oneself, take risks, develop resiliency, and rack up failures and learn from them. This is pretty obvious. But mindset has become a buzzword that is now used in many school districts with little understanding of how it may affect both gifted and neurotypical students.
