Don't overlook this major opportunity for learning

From the article Turning Learning Right Side Up: Putting Education Back on Track, authors Russell Ackof and Daniel Greenberg explain the "...source of the conservatism and risk aversion that permeates the current educational system..."

There are two types of mistake an employee can make in such organizations: doing something that should not have been done, an error of commission; and not doing something that should have been done, an error of omission. Most students are unaware of the existence of errors of omission. These are much more serious than errors of commission. However, accounting systems record only errors of commission. Therefore, these are the only kind of mistake an employee can be held responsible for. To minimize chances of being held responsible for errors of commission—where errors of omission are not recorded—the best strategy is to do nothing.

"The avoidance of taking responsibility for mistakes, induced by schools, carries over to most employing organizations," according to the authors. "The major opportunities for learning come out of identifying mistakes and correcting them. If learning were the objective of schools, they would repeat examinations—after they have been given the first time—to see to what extent mistakes previously made have been corrected."