Learning

5 min

Being bad at something on purpose

The first three weeks are meant to be clumsy. That is the part people remember fondly.

The first three weeks are meant to be clumsy. That is the part people remember fondly. Here is the longer version, written in the staff room between classes.

What we notice

Most adults arrive a little nervous and very polite. By week three they are arguing about glaze colours and borrowing each other’s pencils. Something loosens once it is clear nobody is being graded.

Why it matters

School taught most of us that learning ends with a mark. An evening class has no mark, so the only thing left is the doing. That is rarer than it should be.

Try it yourself

Pick the subject you were told you were bad at. Come for one term. Be bad at it in good company and see what happens by week eight.

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