Attitude Adjustment
March 11, 2008 by claguna
I was reminded today that sometimes our attitudes get in the way of our own learning. For some reason, new things are not always exciting. Sometimes new things make us feel uncomfortable. For example, in Algebra I we learned about the rule for an exponent of zero. It took some convincing for the students to believe that an exponent of zero gives a result equal to one. Some students seemed genuinely angry that the zero exponent didn’t give a result of zero!
I’m often the same way. New ideas or changes can make me feel anxious and uncertain. I have to laugh at myself when I realize what a crazy attitude that is! An open mind is always the best approach to learning. We can’t learn anything new unless we prepare ourselves by understanding just how much we need to learn. I’ll be the first to admit that!
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You know the saying “It’s too late to change” well the only people who use that as an excuse are people who don’t want to change. Change is a good thing, being open to new ideas, however abstract they may be, (ex. the exponent of zero isn’t zero.) is a good thing that people need to learn to be successful, being stubbornly closedminded will get you know where, keep your mind wide open, you’ll be amazed how easy it is to understand the world.
Hi Katie,
Was that a pun? “Know where,” the place where you know nothing? Thanks for making the point about being open minded. The more a new idea differs from what you believe, the harder it is to accept. We have to practice open-mindedness.
Mrs. Laguna