“Learning how to learn is life’s most important skill.” — Tony Buzan

Although I have enjoyed Tony Buzan’s work, I would add something to the quotation with which you began the article.

“Learning how to learn more effectively is life’s most important skill.”

We forget that children come into the world eager to learn and possessing the innate skill to do so in a natural way. Why do we believe we have to force children into desks when they are 5 or 6 and “teach” them to learn? We remove them from the opportunity to interact with the world in authentic ways, and bombard them with what adults have decided “all children must know and be able to do.” Could that be why so many children are “turned off” to learning before they reach 5th grade?

I suspect that one reason some people are afraid to try — to learn something new — is because they fear failure. High-stakes tests have made failure the great enemy — something to be avoided at all costs. It’s past time to reframe failure as feedback…as something to be celebrated as a critical step in any learning experience.