One of my children hates to struggle with learning. He likes things to come easily to him. Learning is a joy for him until he hits a concept or a problem that requires great effort and quantities of trial and error. His confidence stagnates and I suddenly hear the pencil slam and the “I hate math” or “this is so boring” mantra begin.
I have learned over the years that these words really mean, “I’m so frustrated because I don’t understand” or “I wish I could do this! Can someone help me?”
The article below reminds me to pull from the best of western and eastern cultures. I want to celebrate my children’s struggles with learning as often as I celebrate their creative and independent innovation.
Struggle For Smarts? How Eastern And Western Cultures Tackle Learning
At Wonder we incorporate discussions of “panic zones” and “challenge zones” almost every day so that learners become familiar with the idea of struggling and self-managing in order to achieve their SMART goals.
Our goal is to arm you, the parent, with the best information about your child’s achievements and struggles – both to be celebrated.
[Blogs or portion of blogs may be adapted from the blog of our partner school founder and advisor, Laura Sandefer.]