A

rt is a simultaneously 
freeing 
and 
terrifying 

thing — especially if you’re 

someone who 
chooses to pri-
marily draw in 
ink. Whenever 
I 
draw, 
I’m 

forced to relin-
quish the hesi-
tant part of 
myself. 
Each 

pen 
stroke, 

to 
a 
cer-

tain 
degree, 

demands 
decisiveness. 
Drawing can be methodical, and 
there are rules that govern how to 
create the subtle gradation of ink 
as you shade a drawing.

But, mistakes are inevitable.
Erasers have their purpose, 

and certain mediums are more 
forgiving than others. If the piece 
develops past a certain point, any 
error or any little slip of your pen 
becomes a permanent fixture of 
the piece. After that, you can work 
to blend it into the background, or 
you force yourself to redirect your 
piece and transform an error into 
a beneficial accident.

As a navigationally challenged 

individual as well as an artist, 
another type of redirection is also 
all too familiar. I get lost all the 
time. It honestly doesn’t matter 
whether I’ve lived in a place for 
my whole life or for only a mat-
ter of days. Whether following 
my friends’ cars on some back-
roads back home or venturing on 
an unfamiliar path in Ann Arbor, 
there’s a good chance I’ll take a 
wrong turn or find the longest, 
most complicated route possible.

My notorious lack of direction 

always leads to a few jokes and 
some concern from my friends, 
but I’ve grown to appreciate these 
moments of being lost. Only when 
it’s related to art or roaming about 
a city do I abandon my indecisive-
ness. Getting lost is rarely, if ever, 
deemed a smart thing to do, but 
it’s in these moments that making 
mistakes feels like an avenue to 
figuring things out. Those close to 
me have repeatedly noticed a par-
ticular behavior whenever I seek 
advice from them. They’ve told 
me that basically I tend to know 
exactly what I want to do, but I 
often worry if the decision I’m 
making is a smart one.

It’s not unusual to want to avoid 

making mistakes. However, far 
too often I’ve fallen under a com-

mon 
misconception 
described 

by Prof. Jo Boaler of Stanford 
University. I’ve often mistakenly 
associated both “being smart” 
and making smart decisions with 
never getting anything wrong. In 
my mind, there’s always been an 
absolutely “right” decision.

This type of thinking develops 

at a very young age and continues 
throughout one’s life. Accord-
ing to Boaler, this misconcep-
tion originates when individuals 
“perform well (academically or 
otherwise) at young ages and are 
labeled smart or gifted,” and as a 
result, “they become less likely to 
challenge themselves.” Fearful of 
making mistakes, these students 
may surround themselves in their 
comfort zones.

College is meant to be an 

environment that steeps us in 
academia to challenge our ways 
of thinking and reasoning, to 
expand our skill sets and to gain 
knowledge. Essentially, the goal 
of these insti-
tutions is to 
make 
young 

adults smart-
er. 
We’re 

aware of this 
purpose when 
we apply. Here 
at the Univer-
sity, 
intelli-

gence is one of 
the tenets we 
pride ourselves on. However, few 
may consider how college should 
change our definitions of intel-
ligence and challenge our own 
perceptions of how smart we con-
sider ourselves to be.

The opportunities to redefine 

these notions, challenge ourselves 
and to make mistakes continu-
ally evolve throughout our college 
careers. In the early undergradu-
ate years, anxiety may arise as 
one deliberates between diffi-
cult courses or between different 
requirements when selecting a 
major. Eventually, we may begin 
to hesitate and deliberate as con-
cerns may shift to what organiza-
tions to join or what jobs to apply 
to. (As a rising senior, the last one 
is growing increasingly relevant 
and nerve-wracking.)

There’s always pressure to 

accomplish 
this 
intelligently 

and with the least amount of 
error possible — possibly to the 
point where students inhibit 
themselves if any of the options 
threaten this plan. Yet, numer-
ous factors are at play and could 

pose a risk. If a student, for one 
reason or another, doesn’t under-
stand a concept, fails an exam, 
does poorly in a class, switches 
their major, decides to transfer 
to a different university, partici-
pates in a job or internship that 
doesn’t really suit their interests, 
misses a deadline or applies for a 
job they don’t get, there’s merit 
to each one of these occurrences.

These incidents of being lost 

don’t indicate a lack of intel-
ligence. Rather, they provide 
opportunities 
for 
individuals 

to demonstrate the knowledge 
they’ve gained as they redirect 
their ambitions, create new plans 
and move forward. As daunting as 
the possibility of mistakes may be, 
they’re crucial aspects of learn-
ing. Boaler elaborates on this by 
describing how embracing chal-
lenges and even potential failure 
stimulates cognitive structures 
responsible for brain growth.

This 
style 
of 
learning 
— 

referred to as a 
growth mindset 
by psychologist 
Carol Dweck — 
through 
facing 

challenges 
and 

making 
errors 

even 
possesses 

the potential to 
upheave issues of 
gender inequal-
ity 
in 
society. 

Dismantling the idea that intelli-
gence is innate could drive more 
young women to enroll in chal-
lenging STEM classes. Without 
the fear of failure or mistakes, 
women may apply for more lucra-
tive positions in other underrep-
resented career sectors or may 
choose to further their education 
at the postgraduate level.

Risk prevention is beneficial 

only to a certain extent, and 
intelligence doesn’t translate into 
the absence of mistakes in one’s 
life. Instead, a mark of being 
truly smart is acknowledging the 
necessity of testing one’s limits, 
accepting the possibility of fail-
ure and appreciating the value of 
being lost. You may wander and 
turn down the wrong path with 
no way to erase your steps. You, 
actually, may make numerous 
wrong turns. But, the skills and 
the knowledge you uncover along 
the way will aid you in creating a 
new path.

— Melissa Scholke can be 

reached at melikaye@umich.edu.

5

Thursday, July 23, 2015

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com OPINION

 

— Univeristy President Mark Schlissel in reponse to 

U.S. President Barack Obama’s nomination of economics and 

School of Public Policy professor Kathryn M. Dominguez 

to serve on the Federal Reserve Board.

“

NOTABLE QUOTABLE

Kathryn joins a long 
tradition of University 

of Michigan faculty 

lending their expertise 

at the highest 

levels of service in 
Washington, D.C., 

shaping public policy 

and strengthening 

communities.”

what our goals are as we get 

older. We have to ask ourselves and 
each other, “How much pain and 
treatment for aches and diseases 
are we willing 
to 
handle 
to 

maintain 
our 

desired quality 
of life?”

It 
had 
me 

debating what 
I would want 
and what my 
family 
would 

want 
when 

death is on the 
horizon.

But those thoughts were born 

out of fear and hypotheticals. This 
past weekend was all too real. I 
experienced actual loss with actual 
grief with actual sadness.

I know this column has a lot 

going on — it’s compiled of Jackson 
Pollock-esque, scrambled thoughts 
— but I had to write it. My friend 
Aarica, my co-editorial page editor 
during the school year who’s filling 

in right now for the summer editor, 
texted me, “You can always write 
about something else.”

Maybe that column would have 

been more orga-
nized. However, 
that wouldn’t be 
fitting for a col-
umn on death. 
Death is messy 
and 
difficult. 

Sometimes, 
most of the time 
maybe, 
it 
just 

doesn’t 
make 

sense — the mind 
cannot compre-

hend it.

And for Moose, writing this col-

umn was the least I could do.

Moose, I love you and miss you.
And I certainly will never forget 

you. That woulldw be hard since 
we’ll be finding your hair around 
the house for a while

— Derek Wolfe is the summer 

managing editor for the Daily. He can 

be reached at dewolfe@umich.edu.

MELISSA 
SCHOLKE

Getting lost

Death is messy and 
difficult. Sometimes, 

most of the time 

maybe, it just doesn’t 

make sense. 

These incidents 
of being lost don’t 
indicate a lack of 

intelligence.

