Glendale, March 2, 2016 - One of the things we like about our kids playing sports is that there are plenty of life lessons stitched into the game. They learn how to stay focused, how to try their best, how to work with others. Or, in sports expressions, they're taking it one game at a time, giving the coach 110%, and discovering that there is no i in team. Losing is a part of the game, and the sometimes painful experience of this can prepare them for real-life struggles down the road. It's nice that it happens in the safe forum of the playground. Kind of like training wheels for life. And while we root for our child's team to win, what we really hope to see is someone who doesn't give up at the first signs of defeat, but instead is motivated to overcome adversity.
When it comes to academics, the difference between the type of student who surrenders and the one who pushes through a tough problem can often depend on how they understand their own intelligence. Last month, we referenced an
article about the dangers of calling a kid smart. Doing so can prevent a child from reaching their full potential. If a kid thinks she's smart, she will assume everything will come naturally to her and that no effort is required. It'll also lull her into a false sense of security: what happens when she encounters something that's difficult? The "smart" label now becomes a mistake in her mind, and she'll be just like the other struggling kids giving up too soon.
But intelligence is malleable, as we've learned from the Stanford professor featured in the article (who just so happened to conduct her research on kids doing math). When we learn, our brains are physically being altered. The brain is a muscle. The more it is exercised (i.e. challenged to learn), the bigger it gets. The name Mathnasium, of course, is a play on the word gymnasium. We treat math like exercise. It's about growth. We pay strict attention to whether or not a student is learning, not whether he is getting them all right. We ask him how he got his answer so that he's aware of his own understanding, something we call meta-cognition. We also identify knowledge gaps the way a physical trainer might pinpoint a specific muscle to build. In the same way someone wouldn't be expected to do a handstand without building up the proper muscles, a student wouldn't be expected to do triangle inequality proofs without first mastering ratios.
What it comes down to is effort: intelligence is a byproduct of it. So be careful about calling your kid smart. And if your child is struggling, accept that that's where they are—and that it's totally fixable! In other words, just remember to take it one game at a time. And that there is no i in team, because we're always here to help. And most importantly, tell 'em to get in there and give you 110%—a percent that's technically impossible. But not if you consider that their brains are growing with the effort.
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