School Should Be a Challenge (and that’s OK!)
SCHOOL SHOULD BE A
CHALLENGE (And Thats OK!)
While some of us can never shy away from a challenge, if we’re being realistic, the majority of people like to have things come easy to them and avoid a struggle when possible. That’s just how we’re wired. The problem with consistently falling into that is that if we don’t challenge ourselves, then we will stagnate. Studies indicate that growth through challenge is the most precious type of growth because it not only expands knowledge or expertise in the area being challenged, but also reinforces personal growth and confidence.
Personal growth is arguably more important than intellectual growth because confident people become innovative people who become thought leaders making a difference. At NARA Education, we believe in the importance of challenging students to learn new subject materials, as a stepping stone to achieving personal growth through challenge. We do this in our schools, but hope to reach more children around the country through our virtual school model.
The Importance of Challenging Students
When I was in 2nd grade, there were two students in my class who stuck out from the “normal” track the rest of us were on: Joey and Hannah*. Joey was a troublemaker who acted out and became disruptive, posing problems for the teacher. On the other hand, Hannah became bored and tuned out, never paying attention and becoming disruptive in a different way.
Believe it or not, they both had the highest grades in the class. How can “troublemakers” be such high achievers as well?
The problem actually wasn’t in their behavior, it was that they weren’t being challenged and stimulated enough in school. They were intellectually ahead, but falling behind socially, not achieving any kind of growth through challenge. While it sounds nice to coast through school knowing everything, children’s brains are elastic and have the capacity to grow more than we know, and the only way to reach that growth is to push against the boundaries through challenges.
They both met different fates. Since Hannah’s teacher recognized that students need to be challenged and Hannah wasn’t reaching her full potential, she suggested Hannah skip a grade. She jumped into the 3rd grade early in the first semester where she thrived. Because Joey’s curiosity and intellect manifested in a disruptive way, his teacher did not recognize that he was an advanced student lacking stimulation and challenge. He became shut down, never reaching his full potential in school.
Developing a Growth Mindset
The most important thing for lifelong learning is developing a “growth mindset.” Students need to be challenged in order to attain and be comfortable in a growth mindset. Carloyn Dweck is one of the prominent researchers of the past few years to dive deeper into how the growth mindset can change a student’s outlook on learning and overcome feelings of anxiety and worthlessness. She believes that all students regardless of background or capability, should be held to a high standard. Just knowing that someone expects quality work from them is enough to drive them to achieve more.
Dweck pushes that challenging work should not just be given to the “gifted” students who mastered the “regular” material early, but to all students so that they can all develop the growth mindset. According to Dweck, challenge is the clear path to the growth mindset. Through expanding their minds in the classroom by overcoming challenges and asking questions, children enter the growth mindset and hang onto it.
Growth through challenge and a growth mindset does not come solely by setting high expectations for students. Not only do students need to be challenged, but they also need to be equally supported. It could even be more important that students feel supported by their teachers, rather than just given challenging work.
Failure
Overcoming challenges is hard work, with the potential for failure on the path to learning and figuring out the answer. As big of a pill as this is to swallow, failure is just as essential for growth as challenge is (for ALL of us, not just children). When students fail early on, and then turn that around to find the correct answer, they develop even stronger critical thinking and problem solving skills.
It is most important for teachers to create a supportive and safe environment where failure is not looked down on, but completely normalized as a stepping stone to growth. This gives students the confidence to try every solution on the way to solving a problem.
There are many specific activities that expand the growth mindset in children.
Gaining Purpose Through Challenge
Of course, the growth mindset is not just helpful when it comes to the classroom, but fosters curiosity in all things in life, setting students up for challenges in the real world. After all, no one really remembers the details of long division, but it is the problem solving skills around how to get to the answer that they carry over to other aspects of life.
The importance of challenging students in the safe space of the classroom allows them to get comfortable with struggle and failure to prepare them for real world scenarios where they can effortlessly apply those skills. Not only can they think critically and use their problem solving skills, but they also gain confidence. They know that they have overcome issues before and won’t feel hindered by the fact that they are unfamiliar with the problem on the surface. In the forever growth mindset, there is no problem they cannot solve!
It is with this confidence that a sense of purpose becomes instilled in a student, providing a snowball effect that stretches their minds even further and makes them more excited to solve problems and contribute to society and the intellectual community.
In Conclusion, We Love a Challenge
While it may not be the easy way, overcoming a challenge is the best way for a student to learn, develop problem solving skills, gain confidence, and eventually find purpose and meaning. Knowing we would not seek out challenges on our own, it is a teacher’s job to know that students need to be challenged and help them achieve new growth through challenge.
NARA Education recognizes the importance of challenging students in education because the knowledge and the confidence gained through overcoming challenges helps students live in a growth mindset for the rest of their lives. Always being in a growth mindset is the main pathway we see in using education to end poverty.
Help all children achieve a growth mindset! Donate to NARA Education and be a part of helping students grow through challenge.
Ilona Sindhu
Ilona is a writer focused on Old Norse mythology, drawing from her Hungarian, Pakistani, and American roots. She holds a BA in Dramaturgy and Theatre History from NYU and a Master’s in Religion and Literature from the University of Edinburgh. Her work blends myth, culture, and storytelling across borders.
