Mindset : The New Psychology of Success pdfdrive com

Can Everyone Do Well?
Now back to the first question. Is everyone capable of great things with the right
mindset? Could you march into the worst high school in your state and teach the
students college calculus? If you could, then one thing would be clear: With the
right  mindset  and  the  right  teaching,  people  are  capable  of  a  lot  more  than  we
think.
Garfield  High  School  was  one  of  the  worst  schools  in  Los  Angeles.  To  say
that  the  students  were  turned  off  and  the  teachers  burned  out  is  an

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understatement.  But  without  thinking  twice,  Jaime  Escalante  (of  Stand  and
Deliver  fame)  taught  these  inner-city  Hispanic  students  college-level  calculus.
With his growth mindset, he asked, “How can I teach them?” not “Can I teach
them?” and “How will they learn best?” not “Can they learn?”
But  not  only  did  he  teach  them  calculus,  he  (and  his  colleague,  Benjamin
Jimenez) took them to the top of the national charts in math. In 1987, only three
other  public  schools  in  the  country  had  more  students  taking  the  Advanced
Placement  Calculus  test.  Those  three  included  Stuyvesant  High  School  and  the
Bronx  High  School  of  Science,  both  elite  math-and-science-oriented  schools  in
New York.
What’s more, most of the Garfield students earned test grades that were high
enough to gain them college credits. In the whole country that year, only a few
hundred  Mexican  American  students  passed  the  test  at  this  level.  This  means
there’s a lot of intelligence out there being wasted by underestimating students’
potential to develop.