5.3.9 Trial and Error

Most elements of a desirable school are well-known and agreed upon. I don't think it's mysterious at all. But what are the obstacles to making this happen? Well, one of the biggest obstacles is the fact that we don't recognize the value of trial and error. I want to give you a demonstration of trial and error. But the idea of trial and error is that you absolutely have to make mistakes as a constructive part of learning. You can't learn to ride a bicycle without falling off. And if you look at the way schools are organized, schools don't celebrate error. Schools act as if error is bad. We need to develop the attitude that error is good. That you have to help kids learn to make the right kind of mistakes. Very different kind of thing.

Secondly, we need to engage in systematic experimentation. Right now we're trying to change the tire while the car is still driving down the road. That doesn't work very well. We need to also commit the resources that are necessary to that. Now, I'll say something very unpopular, I really think that we need to raise taxes in order to get the resources that are necessary for many of the infrastructure of society. These are the issues that become obstacles to our results. We want instant results and we are impatient with long-term strategies. I promise you that you're not going to succeed unless you can find a way to be patient and realize that some of the reforms that we make in kindergarten today, we won't even know whether they are useful until ten or fifteen years from now.

What is one of the biggest obstacles schools may face when reviewing school practices?

Mrs. Dunn has been a mathematics teacher at Great Lakes High School for almost 10 years when her department head retires. Mrs. Dunn is asked to take over the position, and is glad to do so. When she starts, she is approached by the Algebra teachers in her department and asked to consider a new method that they have devised for teaching how to multiply polynomials. As department head, what should Mrs. Dunn have these teachers do in order to try their new methods in the classroom?