Food for Thought: Help our students be risk takers

Dear all,

Another good but incredibly busy week at ISHCMC. Last week MRISA Basketball and then this week, Grade 4 Camp, Math Counts, SEAMC competition in Malaysia, the MRISA Arts Festival in Cambodia and finally the SISAC Secondary Track and Field meeting. Thanks to everyone involved in providing this diversity of opportunities for our ISHCMC students.

Early this week I sent a 'late' Food For Thought from Al Gore, if you didn't get a chance to watch it you can view here. From this interesting video I received as many comments as ever before, and just wanted to share a couple of other links that emerged from these communications.

The first comes from the recent Paris Climate change talks. The Alliance of Small Island States was able to successfully campaign to change the temperature change agreement from 2 degrees to 1.5, which they believe is more likely to help save their homes.  Among the representatives from the Marshall Islands who were highly involved in this campaign, was 18-year-old Marshallese UWC student Selina Leem, who gave this short but passionate speech.  This is an excellent example of student empowerment and action and having their voice in discussions regarding the future.

The second item I'd like to share is a much longer view but I'm assured life changing by both the person at school who sent it and my daughter who has just surprisingly arrived on my doorstep for a visit telling me all about this documentary that will change my life. The documentary is Cowspiracy. 

And finally........the Food for Thought. This week in SLTA we were doing a quick visioning session on What is School For? provoked by the thinking of  Seth Godin about education. This raised many important points that we will need to look at in the future. However, one area that emerged was that schools need to be places where students feel it is safe to take risk with their thinking. Following the meeting I was sent this short article to read and felt that it would be useful for you to reflect upon who you promote risk taking thinking in you classroom and what deliberate strategies you employ to encourage it. 

Have a great weekend

Yours

Adrian

The Golden Gate Paradox

One of the most significant discoveries researchers have made on both Millennials and Generation Z (kids growing up since the dawn of the 21^st century) is that they have been conditioned to fear failure. Some kids are so paralyzed by the thought of failing, they’ll do anything to avoid it:

• Quit the team.

• Cheat on a test.

• Lie about their results.

• Never try in the first place.

According to one study, conducted by Bilkent University in Turkey, this fear of failure has gone global in 21^st century students. The study found that the “fear of failure at school can negatively affect a student’s motivation and attitude to learn.”

The researchers asked over 1,000 high school and college students to complete surveys about their motivation to learn and the strategies they employed. In the end, they discovered that kids who feared failure at an early age were more likely to create goals to validate their ego rather than help them grow and develop. These students were also less likely to utilize “effective learning strategies” and “more likely to cheat.”

Ouch. Did anyone see this coming?

In 2003, research performed by Wiley Periodicals noted that one of three psychological variables that hinder adolescents’ levels of school engagement was the fear of failure. Hmmm. I think I see a pattern here.

The Golden Gate Paradox

There is a great story that informs how we should lead students through this awful fear and liberate them from it. (I share it in my book, Twelve Huge Mistakes Parents Can Avoid.) In 1933, when the Golden Gate Bridge was being built, the crew fell behind on their deadlines. One of the workers had fallen to his death causing his colleagues to work more slowly each day for fear it might happen again. Finally, one worker approached the supervisor and asked if a net could be placed underneath the men to prevent them from dying if they fell. The supervisor was apprehensive to take the time to do this because they were already behind schedule. But, alas, he agreed and a net was hoisted into position. Suddenly, the men worked faster and more efficiently—actually speeding up the completion of the bridge. What enabled them to work faster and better? Removing the fear of failure. Suddenly, it was safe to try what they had feared before.

I call this the Golden Gate Paradox. Once the workers were liberated from the fear of failure—they could fall without fatality—they worked and succeeded better than ever. And faster then ever. Without the fear of failure, they failed less. The bridge was finished. The foreman met his deadline. The workers were safe. Everyone won.

In the end, people (especially students) need safety nets in order for them to welcome failure as part of the learning process. Safety nets are:

• Motivating. (They want to jump in, take risks and initiate action.)

• Liberating. (They feel free to explore, learn and grow without worry.)

• Safety (It’s OK to fail as you learn).

• Reality (Every action has an outcome).

Suggestions for Safety Nets

1. Start by telling stories of your failures, without celebrating them. Liberate the students by revealing that you failed at some past ventures and lived to tell about it. In fact, you learned
2. Communicate the boundaries for their mistakes and don’t remove every consequence. Ease them into the new scenario; let them push the envelope.
3. Host a course called “Failure 101.” More than one school has initiated such a class especially for students who fear it. It’s all about learning from failure.
4. When possible, offer second chances for fearful students. Many adults are so angry at Gen iY kids, they remove all second chances. This is ultimately harmful.
5. Gradually, condition them to welcome failure as part of their learning. Expose them to responsibility as they gain more autonomy. These two go together.
6. Find out what they fear the most and address it. Perhaps they fear looking bad or disappointing mom. Once you help them identify it, address the cause.

What makes this “safety net” act challenging for staff and faculty is removing student’s fear of failure without neglecting to teach the reality of consequences. In other words, far too often we adults have rescued students from their failures, and they never learn to navigate or face the consequences for their mistakes.

Leaders must be dispensers of grace, allowing followers to fail forward, and not quit or flunk out when mistakes are made. This actually enables them to succeed more often and more quickly. However, leaders must also condition followers to weigh out the ramifications for their decisions and actions. So we must balance both:

Here are some ideas you can tweak to perform the Golden Gate Paradox:

Let’s hoist some safety nets and watch our students flourish.

http://growingleaders.com/blog/golden-gate-paradox/