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the hole in this argument is that you need to know what to work hard on. the psych studies about 'praise kids for their work not their brains' seem legit as a w

the hole in this argument is that you need to know what to work hard on. the psych studies about 'praise kids for their work not their brains' seem legit as a way to improve test performance but school is scripted. In the real world success is based on how you navigate without a script, and persistence matters there but correct choices also matter. Given an oracle that gives perfect advice of course hard work is the largest factor. That's the experiment being done in the test performance psych studies. The 'deliberate practice' papers capture this best. The 'practice' half is hard work, but the 'deliberate' half is the ability to plan and analyze your training to advance your skills. With music or sports a coach can help you. With product, business or war (fields requiring strategy because the rules are ever-changing) not so much.

awinter-py 11y ago
My favorite research on this topic is the 'fewer rules' study. I think it claims that families average 6 rules for children (bedtime etc) and having 2 or less is predictive for the children doing creative work as adults. Cited here: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/31/opinion/sunday/how-to-raise-a-creative-child-step-one-back-off.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/31/opinion/sunday/how-to-rais... Paywalled article here: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.2162-6057.1989.tb00700.x/abstract http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.2162-6057.1989....
- visarga 11y ago
  That's interesting. I have a daughter like that, she practically raises herself. On the other hand, I have another daughter who is extremely problematic and not even 1000 rules will suffice for her to behave.
visarga 11y ago
> 'praise kids for their work not their brains' This can also be a veiled tendency of manipulation. "You worked hard!" means "I am pleased you worked hard!" or "I will not be pleased if you don't work as hard in the future!" and this can have negative consequences as the kid realizes they are captive to your criteria.

awinter-py 11y ago

My favorite research on this topic is the 'fewer rules' study. I think it claims that families average 6 rules for children (bedtime etc) and having 2 or less is predictive for the children doing creative work as adults. Cited here: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/31/opinion/sunday/how-to-raise-a-creative-child-step-one-back-off.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/31/opinion/sunday/how-to-rais... Paywalled article here: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.2162-6057.1989.tb00700.x/abstract http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.2162-6057.1989....

visarga 11y ago
That's interesting. I have a daughter like that, she practically raises herself. On the other hand, I have another daughter who is extremely problematic and not even 1000 rules will suffice for her to behave.

visarga 11y ago

> 'praise kids for their work not their brains' This can also be a veiled tendency of manipulation. "You worked hard!" means "I am pleased you worked hard!" or "I will not be pleased if you don't work as hard in the future!" and this can have negative consequences as the kid realizes they are captive to your criteria.