Does education promote learned helplessness?
Veritasium makes an interesting point in his video what I wish I knew when I was younger about learned helplessness in education. Do we force kids to suffer punishment that they really can’t change time and time again and then expose them to the open world and just say “do whatever you want to do”.
Follow On Thoughts
It’s an interesting point he raises and probably caused by a few independent factors from the way education is structured:
Standardisation of study techniques during high school
I felt that during high school it was encouraged and sometimes forced In high-school biology, I fondly recall being forced to have handwritten notes for certain topics every week. I preferred typesetting my notes using latex and the like, so was not a fan of this rigid, time consuming and archaic methodology. to have written notes in preparation for exams
Emphasis on extrinsic rewards
Personally for me, low grades in a particular subject can quickly make me feel less inclined and motivated to study said subject, which quickly creates the self narrative that I am not good at said subject and won’t ever be. This is especially easy to do when one can make the comparison with others who seemingly do well in the subject without much effort. Inherently extrinsic motivation especially those that are external and less autonomous result in less drive and energy (Abdaal 2023).
The joy in learning should come from learning itself. During my high school time there was a large focus on learning to do well in the exam. The only time I felt that this was not the case was when studying for science competitions like the chemistry olympiad.
Punitive assessment practices
Grading without feedback and comparison between others can make oneself ’learn’ that they are not good at subject X