Always Learning

After talking about the growth mindset in this past series, we’ve explored how this applies in everyday life and in different people’s lives.

In my opinion, one of the most interesting and helpful aspects of the growth mindset is that it encourages continual learning. Though I might not agree with every aspect of this book, one idea I’ve consistently resonated with is that learning doesn’t stop once you’ve gotten a degree or finished a class. Learning is a process. It’s a process that requires you to approach life humbly, to ask questions, to be bold enough to be wrong.

As an education company, it could be easy to assume that we are only focused on what happens in the classroom, that we want the student to walk away with an “A” and that’s it — our work is done. However, we focus on so much more than that. Of course we love to see quantitative improvement in a student’s score, but we also love giving students opportunities to understand that school is simply an opportunity to grow and develop them for the future. But if we are being honest, it can be hard to see that sometimes.

I was talking to one of my students one day and she looked at me and said “I don’t know why we need to learn history. It happened and now we have to memorize dates that don’t really matter to me.” I’m not a history teacher, but I leaned into this moment to share something I find critical about the learning experience — learning is not just about the subject, but the skills you gain from learning in a classroom. Learning history, in my opinion, is about developing critical thinking skills, sifting through information to determine its relevance, understanding how it shifts the way we perceive our current world, and empathizing with marginalized groups because we now understand the history behind our society.

For me, that is one small example of how learning can help you develop not only as a student, but as a human being. Yes, you have the opportunity to grow academically, but you also get the chance to be in a posture of learning consistently. We have the ability to learn outside of the classroom and to be people who are able to grow from the podcasts we listen to, the books we read, the people we talk with, the news we watch — these are all moments that we are learning, whether you realize it or not. From the small conversation you have with the stranger you’re forced to sit next to on the plane — to the news that pops up on your feed, you are intaking information, deciding what’s important or what you believe, and then moving forward from there. We have a chance to either learn and grow from these moments, or ignore them. I personally choose to be in a position to learn continually and hope that our students choose to do the same with the opportunities they are given.

Obviously, learning is important to me and I’ve definitely agreed with the Growth Mindset on being able to learn.

But here is where I personally had to make a shift from the fixed to the growth mindset.

Making a mistake can actually help you develop. My identity is not in my mess ups.

This one is particularly hard for me. For so much of my life, when I messed up, I would be devastated. This reaction led to many days of feeling inadequate and unproductive. Wallowing in my misfortune was never helpful or healthy. And though I am still in the process of understanding this weakness, I think that ever since I’ve separated my mistakes from my identity and have instead used them as an opportunity to learn and grow, I’ve become healthier and happier. I have a lot more work to do in this area, but I’ve already seen where it’s shifted my perspective.

This is a more lighthearted example of when I saw this exact lesson play out this past week. I was making chocolate mousse from scratch (my favorite dessert!) for the 3rd time. I thought I knew the process by now and it would be a quick 15 minute recipe: I was wrong. The panic started to set in when I realized the chocolate mousse was becoming butter (I honestly don’t know how I could have gotten it so wrong, but it happened). I tried to figure it out and I felt discouraged — I messed it up and a whole pint of cream was going to go to waste. But I took a breather, looked up how to save it, and decided to take this as a chance to learn some baking tips. Making a mistake didn’t mean I’ll never be a good baker, it means I need to learn new skills, practice more, and keep on trying. For me, I need to be a continual learner when it comes to who I am and how I want to develop (in and out of the kitchen). The most beneficial discovery for me was that I have to choose to learn about everything else, but I need to put the idea of continual learning into practice in my personal development.

It’s easier said than done, but entirely worth the time and dedication.