Hands On Education
Illustration★★★★“I want my teenage daughter to learn to drive our car safely. Sometimes, after her lesson is over and we are safely back at home, we laugh about various conversations that unfolded in the heat of the lesson: Daughter: ‘Dad, why did you grab the steering wheel like that?’
Dad: ‘Because, sweetheart, it didn’t look as if the elderly lady was moving fast enough to dodge us.’ Or, Daughter: ‘Dad, you didn’t have to pull up the emergency brake. I saw the tree.’ Dad: ‘Yes, Erin, I know you saw the tree.
It was laying against the hood of our car.’ Or, Daughter: ‘Dad, you didn’t have to yell; I was going to stop.’ Dad: ‘Yes, honey, I know we were going to stop. But remember, the object here is for us to stop without going through the windshield.’
There is some risk involved in this process. It isn’t always completely pleasant for either of us, and there are awkward moments along the way. But in the midst of this process I have discovered something very profound: People do not learn how to drive by going to classes and watching films on highway safety.
Nor do they learn to drive by having an instructor who stands in the driveway and yells his instructions from a safe distance.”
Duffy Robbins.
The point
Learning involves hands-on practice with risk and awkwardness; the student progresses through sometimes painful real experience with guidance.