Growth Mindset Analysis

Earlier this week, we did a focused free write on the topic of Malcolm’s trip to Mecca, and I would like to expand on this by emphasizing the topic of mindset, specifically growth mindset. When you are confronted with a problem, do you A) Try to solve it, or B) Ignore it? Your answer to this is probably determined by the kind of mindset you have. Mindset, according to the dictionary’s definition is “the established set of attitudes held by someone.” I believe that mindset is your attitude that shapes how you think and your actions.
In her book, Mindset, Carol Dweck, a psychologist, breaks down what mindset is into two categories. The first category is known as a growth mindset. Dweck says that “In a growth mindset, people believe that their
Virtually all great people have had these qualities.” The second category is known as a fixed mindset. Dweck states that “In a fixed mindset, people believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence or talent, are simply fixed traits. They spend their time documenting their intelligence or talent instead of developing them. They also believe that talent alone creates success—without effort. They’re wrong.” A person with a fixed mindset can get to a growth mindset. Carol Dweck has her own specific procedures to this change. As Dweck states the first step is to “Learn to hear your fixed mindset ‘voice’. In other words, when you are facing some kind of challenge or struggle, you tend to hear many negative comments roaming in your mind, but the first step is
Despite my firm convictions, I have been always a man who tries to face facts, and to accept reality of life as new experience and new knowledge unfolds it. I always kept an open mind, which is necessary to the flexibility that must go hand in hand with every form of intelligent search or truth”(Page 391). I think this quote strongly supports Malcolm X of having a growth mindset. Having an open mind is very important in a growth mindset, and the fact that he said “always” emphasizes that he’s been opened to changes since he was young. Mecca, where Malcolm experiences experiential education, finds out that the whole white race aren’t all “devils” Mr. Muhammed emphasizes them to be. Despite having utter faith in Mr. Muhammed, he shifts his thinking and accepts the truth. If Malcolm had a fixed mindset in this situation, he would have never accepted that not all white men are cruel monsters and he would have been considered arrogant. But, Malcolm even keeps a growth mindset in Harlem, where you can say he was opened up to living a different lifestyle, from having features like white men to even learning how to hustle and rob. Not wanting to sound ignorant, in prison, Malcolm self educates himself by constantly