Education 2.0 Part 1 - Being Wrong is the Right Way to Learn

As I said a few weeks ago, the revamped education system, I call it Education 2.0, this is the first part in this series, where I try to highlight the importance of trying out things, making mistakes and learning from them.

Lets go back to when we were born. What were the first things we learnt to do as a child. Crawling, walking, running, riding a bicycle to name a few from a logistics point of view.

How did we learn to do these things? Lets start with crawling. I'll just try to think what must be the child thinking...
"i feel a strong need to move from one place to another to grab something. Let me push myself in that direction, so i push my head forward and fall flat on the face... ouch! my nose hurts and I start crying, some time passes by, my nose hurts less and mom pampers me a little ofcourse. let me try again... what are these things sticking out (hands), let me try using them, accidentally bent my leg and came on 1 knee which turns out to be easier to push myself...now what if a do the same with my other leg... wow! my stomach is off the floor :-)"

Ok, so the point is we took our time, tried out things, made mistakes and learnt from them.

Why can't the same way of learning continue for the rest of the life... Here is what parents have to say about their kids learning how to crawl. I have taken these from a few blogs here n there


...my son was 5 months when he started "trying to crawl" he would get up on his hands and knees and try to pick up his hands and just fall flat on his face but after about a month of trial and error he is now 6 months old and can crawl...

...My son started crawling at 4 mo.'s, but my daughter started crawling at 7 mo's....so it varies on the child....both of my kids did the on the knees rocking & throwing themselves forward also....BUT...then they would drag themselves around by their elbows & one leg pushing off & one leg straight out...eventually, they got the idea that it is hands & knees & they got somewhere, it just happens as per their own time...

...a significant minority of babies never crawl... My daughter never crawled and is now walking at 11 months...

...don't get into the trap of comparing your little one with other babies. I did it myself and know how easy it is to do. Just enjoy her\him and unless there's something obviously wrong......like not crawling by a year and a half or something......don't worry about typical ages. Your baby might not crawl until she\he is a year old but she\he may be talking much earlier than other babies...

And this is what happens when the child learns to walk as well...

See! when the child is so young, parents are so adjusting with their pace and accepting of the fact that their child is unique, but as the child grows, parents forget this and expect the child to be "better" than others in school, college, life!

Why cant the same way of learning continue for the rest of the life. All of us eventually learnt to walk, sooner or later, and we are PERFECT at walking and many other walks of life where we make mistakes and learn. There wasn't any competition when we learnt to walk, everyone supported us irrespective of the time it took us to learn to walk and were patient when we kept falling and enouraging us to get up and try again.

So, Being Wrong is the Right Way to Learn!