I don't think you can get smarter as we think of it but you can appear smarter as society thinks of it. After all the kids identified as gifted by teachers are often the smart, complaint and hard working.
This. I think Carol Dweck was just playing fast and loose with the term smart and confusing ability with achievement.
I think the "growth mindset" under the circumstance of her experiments are indeed a useful concepts. Particular for young kids, who are not expected to understand the true limit of their potential, having a growth mindset may indeed induce more sustained effort in whatever they are doing. The trouble comes when her findings are generalized into some universal truth. It is also one of those concepts that are slightly misleading, could be good for the individuals to have, but harmful when the educators or society in general drink the Kool-aids.
