Confusion and Struggle

Confusion and struggle are good things when it comes to learning. Failure is not.

This week, the Big Question Institute wrote this about confusion:

“It’s crazy to think that we’re almost four years on from the outbreak of the Covid-19 virus.”

“Do you remember the disruption of that moment? The chaos? The deep uncertainty and confusion that most all of us felt?”

“Now, with some distance, it’s important to reflect on and acknowledge what a powerful learning moment that was. The problem solving. The collaboration. The relevance of the work. In so many ways, those first few months of pandemic response brought out the best of us in a learning and doing context.”

“So, maybe we want more of that? Not another pandemic, but more of those conditions that lead us to literally crave learning.”

“More confusion, maybe?”

“Jonathan Rowson, one of our favorite thinkers and writers about the current state of the world, writes ‘Comfort with confusion is central to the art of learning. The point is not to stay confused forever, but to allow yourself to feel confused for long enough to shift some cognitive structures to allow you to see, feel, and do more than you previously could.’”

“’Allow yourself to feel confused.’ As in don’t fight it, embrace it.”

“How are you doing with that?”

“Certainly, this is a time for confusion. Generative AI…challenges to democracy…the impacts of climate change…a struggle to know what is and isn’t true…and more. There is much, so much happening in this moment that challenges our understanding of what to do next. And especially in schools, that challenge is acute. We don’t like confusion.”

“We like knowing.”

“But what if you owned your confusion, named it, and shared it out? What if your school community came together in the new year and had a conversation under the heading of ‘What We’re Confused About, 2024 Edition’? What kind of deep, collaborative, urgent learning might that inspire?”

“Better that than wait for the next pandemic.”

What The Big Questions Institute is asking traditional schools to do, to embrace confusion, is a noble request. But I’m guessing very few school districts will take them up on the challenge. Why? Because BQI answered it in their essay – traditional schools like “knowing” and they dislike “confusion.”

Traditional schools don’t ask questions, they provide answers.

Traditional schools don’t rely on one-to-one conversations to evaluate learning, they administer bubble tests.

Traditional schools don’t respect learner voice, they tell their students how the school day will go.

Traditional schools don’t embrace confusion or struggle, they just assign failure.

What if there was a place where young learners could embrace confusion and invite struggle, without risking immediate failure? What if there was a place where young learners could define, plan, execute, and evaluate their own learning? What if there was a place where young learners could learn “how to learn” and feel pride in owning their own learning?

When it comes to learning, confusion and struggle are good things. Confusion and struggle should be celebrated. We need to find a place where this can happen without the end result being failure and dejection.

Til tomorrow. SVB