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.