Term 3 Week 4 19th August 2016 Issue No. 25
From the Executive During the Term 2 holidays, my well-beloved car began making noises of discontent; something between a rattle, a jangle and a clatter. There were definitely sounds of moaning and complaint; sounds arising from somewhere in “the engine area” of the car; somewhere that I know exists but have no idea how it actually works.
I listened. I watched. I nodded in response. I think I even named the spark plug!
So I did what I’ve always done: I took it to a male friend to have a listen. He listened, and very much advised me not to drive the car any further. Less than 20 hours later, after having driven away from the caryard with a new car, I was standing in my friend’s driveway, while he and his son spent over an hour explaining to me the workings of the engine of my new car.
Not because my friends are poor teachers, but more because of the way I thought about my ability to learn about car engines.
But did I learn anything? Would I know what to do next time the car’s engine made an unusual noise? No.
I think I didn’t learn anything that afternoon because of my mindset. According to Dr Carol Dweck, if we think that our ability to do something or be successful in an area is “carved in stone”, Page 1