“All through school, from kindergarten up, you were taught that mistakes are a bad thing. You were downgraded for the mistakes that you made.
It is perfectly apparent from what [schools] do in examinations where errors are identified, [that] education is not about learning. It is about grading. Because if they were interested in learning, they would give you the same examination back a week later, to see if you had corrected your mistakes. But they’re not interested in that, they’re interested in giving you a grade.
So it is impressed on you, mistakes are a bad thing. [Ed: And learning by making mistakes is a bad thing.]“
– Russell Ackoff Talk, ISSS Cancun 2005, 49th Meeting
The educational system never made a person a critical thinker/learner. However, it has successfully developed a lot of individuals who can competently follow a set of instruction to get some job done.
The hard part of truly learning and thinking is to realize that the norm to which you adhere to is flawed. And with that comes a decision to act to change it – even challenge the norm – or not to learn from it by simply conforming to the flawed instructions.