A Quirky Outreach Teacher Saved Me from Systemic Ostracism

How the Growth Mindset helped rewrite a written-off future

Photo by Laura Rivera on Unsplash

Reading Carol S. Dweck’s “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success” brought back memories of five eighth graders deemed unable to be saved and sent to an outreach class — or, more cynically, a dumping ground for lost causes.

I was one of those misfits. What my odd, short torso-to-spider legs ratio lacked in presence, my staunch ‘fuck you’s made up for tenfold. The school had long pressed its great steel ruler, hot from their negligence and our defiance, against our foreheads, leaving a blackened imprint: Reject.

Our new class was championed by a quirky teacher who instinctively applied Dweck’s “Growth Mindset,” the belief that limitations are not inherent but often self-imposed and surmountable through persistent effort, years before the book was published.

Her name was Matilda, and she saved us from systemic ostracism.

This story takes place within the Swedish school system, so some terms have been adapted for universal understanding. All names have been changed to protect privacy.

The ‘Factious Five’

First, let me introduce the gang to show why the school administration handpicked us…