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Cognitive scientist Guy Claxton wants erasers banned from classrooms. The are an instrument of the devil he says.
Cognitive scientist Guy Claxton calls erasers an instrument of the devil. He wants them banned from schools. He argues that erasers encourage children to feel ashamed about mistakes. He want schools to encourage pupils to acknowledge their mistakes, because this is how the world works.
Claxton said to the Daily Telegraph: “The eraser is an instrument of the devil because it perpetuates a culture of shame about error. It’s a way of lying to the world, which says ‘I didn’t make a mistake. I got it right first time.’ That’s what happens when you can rub it out and replace it.
Instead, we need a culture where children are not afraid to make mistakes, they look at their mistakes and they learn from them, where they are continuously reflecting and improving on what they’ve done, not being enthralled to getting the right answer quickly and looking smart. They need to be interested in the process of getting the right answer because that’s what it is like in the big wide world.”
To make his argument more visual he adds: “He added: “Ban the eraser, get a big road sign with an eraser and put a big, red bar across it and get kids to say you don’t scrub out your mistakes, highlight them because mistakes are your friends, they are your teachers.”
The argument of embracing mistakes comes along with the whole discussion about the necessity of grades. Schools should be a place that encourages learning and creativity. Most current school concepts are pushing kids to just learn stuff by heart instead of understanding the concepts behind something. In a world where all information is just a Google search away, kids should focus on understanding how things work and not know the names of all Presidents for the next test.