Disclaimer: Many people discourage the ethically-minded from supporting the Olympics due to their often being hosted by undemocratic countries (China and Russia come to mind) and overseen by the IOC, who some consider ethically dubious. The athletes, their coaches and the broadcast networks do not always engage in behaviors we consider laudable. Nonetheless, many of your students will be watching the Olympics and I have long believed that there is much to learn from some of the stories we will see in the coming weeks.
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What is the growth mindset?
At its core, the growth mindset teaches that people can get smarter through their own efforts. We are not, as we might think, born with specific, unchangeable allotments of 'smart' that predetermine our success; rather, we all have strengths and weaknesses, but through effort and perseverance, we can make ourselves better at math, science, Torah study, athletics or anything else.
The growth mindset was primarily popularized by Carol Dweck's work Mindset, based on her research as a psychology professor at Stanford University. It is incredibly well-established, and it fits perfectly with the way we've been teaching kids for years to think about personal growth. I'll return to this when talking about spiritual growth in my final post of this series.
Using athletics to model the growth mindset
I was introduced to the growth mindset in the summer of 2012, so the Olympics were on my mind. The Olympics are a classic example of "my success does not need to look like your success," a very Jewish concept. Judaism teaches that God only tests people with tests they are ready for (which is why Abraham's 10 trials were so grueling.) Similarly, whether you consider yourself to have done well in the Olympics depends on your experience and background. If you come to the Olympics as a diver from China, nothing short of a gold medal will satisfy (or so NBC reported.) China wanted to sweep all 8 diving gold medals, but only managed 6. If you are the divers who went home with silver medals, second to a Russian and an American, that silver medal is a defeat.
In contrast, if you come to the Olympics from a country that has never medalled* before, or never medalled before in that sport, or you make the podium when no one expected you to be a finalist, you are going to be pretty happy with your results - even a lowly bronze medal. At left, I pictured Sam Oldham, a member of the British men’s gymnastics team, who got their first medal in 100 years. I also told my students about diver Pandalela Ringong, who was the first Malaysian woman ever to win an Olympic medal, and the first Malaysian to win a medal outside of badminton. In both cases, I wanted to emphasize that we don’t have to be the very best at something to achieve a personal best or a personal victory. (Our students can see more clearly an Olympic bronze as an achievement than their personal successes, which do not come with medal ceremonies.) My students especially liked looking at pictures of the British princes watching and cheering for the men’s gymnastics team, since they can respect anyone respected by people they respect.
Essentially, one of the things our students should learn about the Olympics is that whether a result is "good enough" is based on where they came from. In academic terms, whether you are satisfied with a B+ is based on whether you are used to getting As or Cs. I don't like talking about grades - but I love talking about the Olympics.
Character lesson #1: Let's not rest on our laurels
In stark relief, the Olympics highlights the idea that we are only as good as our recent performance. It does not do to assume that because we could do something before, we will always be able to do it. (Conversely, it also can sometimes show us that not being able to do something before does not prove that we won't be able to do it in the future.) Though US Olympian Ryan Lochte has won many, many medals in the past, including the gold medal in London in the 400 individual medley, he won't be competing in that event in Rio after he failed to qualify in June. (He has since qualified for the 200 m individual medley.) Being the reigning gold medalist might get him fame and endorsements - but it does not entitle him to any advantages at the 2016 Olympics.
Character lesson #2: Actions have consequences
Many of our students are too young to remember that Michael Phelps set a goal for himself in 2008 of winning 8 gold medals - and then won the hearts and minds of many Americans by successfully doing so. In 2012, Phelps was defending his title in the 200m butterfly and was just "out-touched" at the wall by South Africa swimmer Chad le Clos. In an interview with NBC afterwards, he was candid about the fact that he had not been training as hard for 2012 as he had in 2008. He attributed his loss to this less-than-optimal training. Even for an athlete as strong as Michael Phelps, consistent hard work is always required.
Character lesson #3: Teshuva is even more possible in life than in the Olympics
After the 2012 Olympics, Phelps said he was not coming back in 2016. Setting aside the scandals and missteps of the intervening years, the idea of getting another shot - redemption, in the parlance of NBC sportscasters, and teshuva, in our terminology - is always a compelling story. Michael Phelps is returning to the Olympics in 2016 seeking to regain his gold medal in the 200m butterfly. Though he might have thought he was too old to be truly competitive in some of these events, the article tells us that he reconsidered when he realized success would be within his grasp. Our students are fortunate that they need not wait 4 years to demonstrate improvement and their ability to be successful does not depend on anyone else being unsuccessful. Not allowing past setbacks to stand in our way is an important part of the growth mindset. I can always be better tomorrow.
Academic lesson #4: It's worth taking risks
Pictured farthest to the right on my 2012 bulletin board is a picture of Qiu Bo, whose silver in London was below the Chinese gold standard. With my students, I read an
article about how he pursued gold more as work than as a passion, and we
compared him to the eventual winner, American Daniel Boudia. We talked about
how passion and drive can help someone not expected to win outperform one or
more favorites (since the Brit also favored to win alongside Bo ended up in
bronze.) I wanted my students to remember that even if other people don’t think
we can do it, we can achieve a lot if we push ourselves to succeed. This being
a math class, we also noted the need to take risks, as the degree of difficulty
in Boudia’s dives was a deciding factor in his eventual victory. (Diving scores are multiplied by the degree of difficulty, so divers have an incentive to attempt more difficult dives, more so than many other sports, such as gymnastics, where difficulty points are only added on.)
Last fall, I created the above bulletin board highlighting Serena Williams. It was not an Olympics year, but she was receiving media attention for how hard she was training in her quest to win a Grand Slam (only certain events are "Grand Slam" events; the title refers to winning 4 major events in a calendar year.) When I put up the bulletin board in August 2015, she was still in the running. I highlighted passages that described her commitment and focus during training. Williams' loss at the US Open in early September 2015 ended that season's hopes. Most recently, though, Serena bounced back to win Wimbledon in 2016, earning her 22nd Grand Slam title (and tying Steffi Graf's achievement). Serena and her sister Venus, who have a history of hard work and achievement in the face of adversity and public scrutiny, will also be headed to Rio.
Teachable moments to come
I plan to watch the 2016 Olympics with an eye towards discovering stories that can help my students realize that hard work in any arena leads to growth. I'll post updates as my schedule allows.
Some of this research was initially done as part of the Skillful Teacher training course, which I took in the summer of 2012. The course is run by Research for Better Teaching.
