IF STUDENTS ARE FRUSTRATED, IT MAY BE BECAUSE THEY ARE LEARNING

The act of creation takes work. It is demanding. It calls forth. It is not “easy”. It is not necessarily “happy”. It demands something. Energy must be invested in order to create, and the same is for discovery. To discover something, you must invest energy. It takes work to discover something.

If you want to create a work of art, prepare for stress and anxiety. If you want to discover new lands, prepare to get bruised, mentally and physically.

If one of the ultimate goals of education is to create and to discover, you should be prepared for stress, tension, and an investment of energy. I used to loathe going to some my college classes, especially the ones at which I was learning the most. I hated going to these classes not because I was not interested in the material, but because they demanded something from me. I didn’t want to work!

The creation of new neural networks (a.k.a. “learning”) is a demanding task that forces an individual to invest energy (sometimes called “work” by our elders) to get the desired output. And herein lies the rub.

I think some people envision a great class as one where people are happy, smiling, and raising hands after every question. But I’m not so sure this is the case. If everybody is happy, smiling, and raising their hands, it is either the day before Homecoming, or you are celebrating Cinco de Mayo in Spanish class and everyone is eating quesadillas.

There is a fine line between boredom and frustration. Learning shouldn’t necessarily be boring, but it sure can be frustrating. It can cause tension, anxiety, and stress. It will demand an input of energy, and this is not an easy thing to do.

If you have students who are frustrated, stressed, and tense, don’t be so hesitant to call in a psychotherapist to treat for anxiety disorders. Perhaps this is NOT a classroom-wide panic attack or an entire group of depressed students. Maybe, just maybe, you could be witnessing “learning”.