In Paris, a veritable celebration of mistakes was hosted last week by a group of academicians from a number of France’s educational institutions. The Guardian writes on the concerns of many professionals in the education field:

…The French school system is leaving children bereft of creativity, flexibility of thought and – crucially – confidence in their own mental abilities…’A large part of the French school system is based on the idée reçue that errors are negative, when in fact it is by this very process of learning … that you make progress,’ said Maëlle Lenoir, of the Association Paris Montagne.

French history is full of great inventions and inventors, artists and architects, too many to mention here. How long has this style of teaching been in practice?

The article gives a few “great mistakes” to demonstrate the power of making errors, like Columbus’ search for India, which led him to the Americas. According to the article, many young French students fear answering questions incorrectly, and are afraid of taking risks. Many of our beliefs on these issues stem from culture, which is instilled in all of us from a young age, and especially at school. Now, educators in France are looking to change these ideas with the hopes of increasing students’ propensity to be innovative and creative. The event’s leaders “hope to demonstrate to young participants the potential wonder of making mistakes through a series of science-based workshops.” This festival strives to give young students the courage to think creatively, without worrying about making mistakes.

In the US, for example, asking questions, intense curiosity and failure are all seen as important learning experiences. Curiosity can lead to failure, but failure is one way of learning, and can also lead to breakthroughs in all subjects (e.g. via the trial and error method). In the professional realm, many managers expect failure before mastery, and employees can easily recover from a loss of face due to mistakes, so long as they learn from them. Conversely, in countries like China, where the learning process is heavily based on rote and process, mistakes can cause significant loss of face, and failure is often very difficult to recover from.

What is your experience as a schoolchild? Do you remember having exploratory activites in class, like “show and tell,” were you expected to learn through repetitive action, or was there a different method?

We’re interested in hearing from you.

Charlene

RW3 CultureWizard