Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion What would you ask Carol Dweck?

Yes, stretched out by others, possibly because the book was written for general audiences.

Stretched out by others possibly by removing Dweck's work from the context of the time in which it was written, nearly a decade ago, without regard for what has changed in that decade.

The research was conducted and the book mindset (copyright 2006) came out prior to:
- common core (2010), national standards, one-size-fits-all education, and the emphasis on closing any achievement gap and/or excellence gap, often by creating a ceiling for children at the top.
- NAGC changing the definition of "gifted" to emphasize accomplishment/achievement/eminence rather than gifted as a way of being/thinking (recapped in this blog post, Gifted Parenting Support, November 26, 2011)

As these trends were not part of the landscape when mindset was published, it would be unusual for Dweck to anticipate the movement of gifted education in that direction, and therefore to have included statements in her work which may be in defense of gifted education in the face of such changes. At the time when mindset was published, these influences did not exist.

Unfortunately, even for those of us who've read the book, it may be equally difficult to focus on what mindset says about the research, when we are immersed in today's educational landscape which causes us to wonder why mindset seems silent on certain topics (which did not exist a decade ago).

At the time when mindset was written, a hot topic in gifted education was "underachievement". The research presented in mindset was research into motivation. Another article summarizes a sentiment similar to the research presented by mindset, this way: