Risk Taking in School—The Foundation of Learning

Good risk-taking behavior is important for learning. Risk-takers tend to be more motivated to achieve, and they are more tolerant of the inevitable frustrations encountered in school. Learning something new leads to feelings of pride, mastery, and self-esteem. Risk-taking can prevail over fear of making mistakes in a climate of safety and acceptance in the classroom. (Levine, 2006)

While there are many factors the influence the degree to which a child is willing to take risks, the child’s experiences in school influence the way he approaches risk-taking. A teacher’s philosophy can affect the degree to which a child’s risk-taking behavior is rewarded or discouraged. When the right answer is rewarded over effort, risk-taking is discouraged. On the other hand, teachers who reward intellectual risk-taking encourage that in their students.

In addition to creating an overall climate of encouragement for risk-taking, the astute teacher takes into consideration each student’s areas of relative strength and weakness and individualizes her approach for specific children. Children vary in their cognitive abilities with some being more verbal, others more mathematical, and still others more spatial. Children also vary in their attentional abilities. In addition, children differ in their processing ability, including processing speed and memory (both long- and short-term). Most children have uneven learning profiles, that is, they do not perform at the same level in all areas, and they tend to avoid risk-taking in areas of relative weakness. Teachers who focus mostly on a child’s strengths can sometimes interest them in risk-taking in areas of relative weakness. Providing opportunities to take small risks in areas of relative weakness can be valuable for these children in the long run. (Davis, 2009)

While this is all true, children who are temperamentally risk-averse may struggle even in the most supportive classroom environments. My older daughter’s extreme perfectionism surfaced when she began to attend school. She somehow got the idea that she was always supposed to know the answer and that she was never supposed to make mistakes. These thoughts brought her to tears on many occasions, despite the fact that she was an outstanding student. Her perfectionism virtually paralyzed her when she was given a creative assignment in which there was no right answer. Her teachers were extremely caring and fully understood the value of intellectual risk-taking in school, yet Esther’s perfectionism persisted into high school and spilled over into the social and athletic realms. All of this is to say that even under the best of circumstances, sometimes one factor will weigh more heavily in a child’s risk-profile than all others. If this is the case, it takes time and experience for children to become better risk-takers, but it can be accomplished. As an adult, for example, Esther is highly risk-tolerant in most areas.

Parents can support their child's development of positive risk-taking in school by sharing with his teacher the child's experiences with risk-taking in the past. If the teacher knows that risk-taking is very difficult for your child, for example, she can provide significant support for even the most tentative of stepts in the direction of risk-taking. In addition, she can work to prepare your child for situations in which risk is unavoidable, such as in creative writing or in art projects. In addition, parents can talk with their child about risk-taking and about his reaction to it. The more he understands about his own risk-taking profile, the better able he will be to manage in school.