Manufacturing Success: How to Nurture the Growth Mindset in Children?
By Zulfiqar Ashraf Chaudhry
Roseville, CA
Nothing opens new horizons of possibilities like books. Nothing nurtures the growth mindset like reading. In fact, all great leaders were readers. Indeed, the very first word of our Holy Qur'an was “Read”. But then what happened? How does one explain the current poor condition of Muslims in general, and Pakistanis, in particular?
Scholars have forwarded many elegant answers to this complex question. Some answers include lack of education, inequality of sexes, corruption, lack of justice, inept leaders, bad weather, infertile land, belligerent neighbors, etc. But I think the answer is simple. In fact, it can be captured in one word. We employ this word, rather technique, in our schools. We do not even spare our Holy Book from it. I am confident that Allah did not mean that word, when He told our Prophet to “Read”. But, nevertheless, we use it in both our secular and religious education. This all-compassing word, the explanation of all our problems, the inhibitor of all our unlimited growth and potential, is the word “Rata” (rote memorization)!
But “Rata” is not a new phenomenon, inflicting Muslims and Pakistanis exclusively. It has been around for centuries; it has choked many a people in the past. Our American forefathers were once under its spell. Take Benjamin Franklin for example.
In Franklin’s time, “the route (to education) was clear enough. First, you entered your boy at the Boston Latin School. That prepared (one) to enter Harvard College. The seven-year program was almost all rote learning. A student’s first three years were spent memorizing rules of Latin syntax, vocabulary, and Cato’s moral precepts. In their fourth year, students translate Erasmus “if their capacities allow” and memorize Ovid, “which is recited by heart on the usual time of Friday afternoon.” Students were supposed to sit quietly on their hard benches, stand to recite their memorized passages, and neatly copy their Latin sentences.” (Daniel Wolfe, 2009, how Lincoln learned to read, p9). Does this sound familiar? Fortunately, Americans graduated from the “rata” phase to the “read” phase, while, unfortunately, Pakistanis are still stuck in the “rata” phase.
In Pakistani education system, even science subjects are taught the same way their Holy Qur'an is taught: through pure Rata! You want to get high marks in any “secular” or “religious” subject, no problem. Get the best notes available and drink them quickly, with your eye-closed, like a bitter medicinal syrup.
“ Pee ja Ayyamkitalkhikobhihanskar Nasir
Ghamkosehlene me bhiQudarat ne Mazarakkha hay”
All this, we are advised, with a pat on our back, will be worth in the long run. Forget understanding the concepts. Forget being creative. Forget applying this knowledge to real life. Just get the ‘First division.’ Only top marks will get you admission to a great college and help you obtain a well-paying job, even increase your value in the matrimonial bazaar.
But all this obsession with top marks, through Rata, has stunted the growth of our new generation. It’s like planting the California redwood trees in small pots and leaving them there forever.
Slaves of custom are all the schools of old;
They teach the eaglet to grovel in the dust.
So, how to nurture growth mindset in children? The answer was given in the very first word by Allah Himself, to his Prophet (SWA), who could not read. But simply reading, without doing, goes against the spirit of Islam. All the rituals of Islam have a practical element to them. For example, as soon as you believe in One God, Mo’azin asks you to perform Salaat. Indeed, theory (reading/thinking/Tafakur) goes hand in hand with the actual act of doing (experimentation).
Free young men’s minds from slavery,
And make them mentors of the old
I know it’s a tall order to replace the “rata” based education system of Pakistani schools and madrassas with experimentation-based system. In fact, such impossible task (like other impossible tasks) can breed more helplessness among the masses. Poor people of Pakistan are already hijacked by their leaders (both religious and secular), who do not want them to think and read critically. Ask Fredrick Douglas (the run-away slave), why his Masters did not want him to read?
As Stephen Covey said, “When you think the problem is out there, that very thought is the problem.” We all have to do our part in saving ourselves and our next generation. We can work on things that are under our control to effect long lasting change. Let’s take the example of Jeff Bezos (of Amazon) to see how we as parents can nurture a growth mindset in our future generation.
Jeff was born to a 17-year-old mother: Jackie. She had no experience of parenting, but had a deep respect to understand her children. She paid attention to what interested them. She said, “I paid attention to what interested each one—they were all different—and followed their lead. I felt it was my responsibility to let them to deep dives into what they enjoyed.” For example, Dr Duckworth reports in her book, Grit, “At three, Jeff wanted to sleep in a “big bed”, but his mother told him “not yet”. Next day, when she came home, she found him “screw driver in hand, disassembling his crib. Jackie didn’t scold him. Instead, she sat on the floor and helped. Jeff slept in a big bed that night. By middle school, he was inventing all sorts of mechanical contraptions, including an alarm on his bedroom door. “We made so many trips to RadioShack,” Jackie said, laughing. “Sometimes we’d go four times in a day because we needed another component.” (Angela Duckworth, 2016, Grit, p110-111). How many of us will tolerate our kids disassembling a bed? How many of us will take our kids to Radio Shack four times to get a part? But we did this in our heyday. Wasn’t Usama bin Zayd—the son of a freed slave, only seventeen years old when he was appointed general to the great army sent to Sham by Prophet Muhammad (SWA)?
Surely, there’s still hope. Despite all the difficulties, despite all the limitations we place on them, our children continue to grow (physically and intellectually). Soon their growth will break their small pots; soon their roots will gain access to the earth and they will grow taller than the California redwood trees. If only, they could, once again, heed to Allah’s command: “Iqra” and not twist it to mean, “Rata”.
But of his barren acres Iqbal will not despair:
A little rain, and harvests shall wave at last, oh Saki.
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