Learned Helplessness

Learned helplessness is a condition that we may all suffer in one way or another.  I don't know where the wrenches are kept in the garage because I don't want to wrench anything.  It is a lot easier to ask my Dan to wrench things when they need wrenching, and then I don't have to do it.  But we can also become victims of learned helplessness if we fail to be able to seek out and find solutions for ourselves.

In the classroom, we sometimes cultivate learned helplessness in our learners if we don't encourage them to seek out and find answers for themselves.  Instead, they can just wait until the teacher tells them how to do it.  It breeds lazy learners.  It also breeds learners with no resilience.  Helpless.

Sometimes we are guilty of it in our professional learning as well.  Much easier to ask an expert than to track down an answer for ourselves.   But here's the thing.  Experts aren't around all the time, and they usually cost money, so this is why you need to unlearn the habit of helplessness.  Become a lifelong learner.  That is why the internet is such a wonderful tool.  You can seek out how to do just about anything.  Go on, take that first step.

And in a shout out to my friend, Rick, here's a link that he sometimes sends to helpless learners...

http://bfy.tw/ERvl

Watch it, you will like it.