Originally Posted by TheSquealer

Thats teaching / coaching 101. You praise the work, not the skill/outcome. You can lower a childs IQ by telling them continually how smart they are (though according to related studies, thats roughly 80% of every parents tendency).

Think of it like this. Forget education. If you are a boxer and you have a good jab and i start telling you that you have the best jab in the world, the best i've seen and harp on and on about what a great jab you have, your tendency will be to throw fewer and fewer jabs. Your sense of identity becomes tied to this "great jab", you know you are constantly being measured by your peers by your "great jab" etc etc etc. So.... you spar with someone and they slip your jab and counter with ease. What do you do? You start throwing fewer and fewer jabs to protect your status/sense of identity... as you throw fewer and fewer, it suffers and gets worse. As it gets worse, you throw fewer and fewer and so on.

You praise the work because if i was coaching you, my end goal is to improve your jab. I praise hard work, when you work hard and place a high value on hard word. I praise your focus, your determination and effort and the end result, is those things improve and your jab improves.

That said, i'd say the biggest problem by far in US education is the very low standards and low demands, vs challenging everyone to reach beyond their perceived abilities and be continually raising the bar.