Mistakes should be encouraged, then when they are made, they should be presented as learning opportunities. As in: "this is incorrect, here are some things you

Mistakes should be encouraged, then when they are made, they should be presented as learning opportunities. As in: "this is incorrect, here are some things you can do instead, lets look at why you thought this, and how we can get you to a different frame of mind". Please re-read my statement number 2. I said worry is usually rooted in fear of something being taken away. I never said anything regarding the nature of fear, either its causes or effects. I'll try to put those repercussion fears into words for you: you are afraid that your mistakes will have the company go out of business and your job will be taken, that your friends and colleagues will no longer associate and respect you as a result (taking away those relationships), that future employment will be harder to find (taking away security). Is this on the right track? I have those fears too, I just try not to let them rule my life. As for the other side of this why worry about inefficiency? Are you afraid you might have your reputation for no-nonsense constant work taken away? Do you fear you won't get enough money? Whats the big deal about learning something that takes a bunch of time but doesn't return as well as you'd hoped? Why worry about it? Sometimes inefficiency in the small leads to gains in the large, and vice-versa. As for 3rd-hand "thats bad": I have yet to meet anyone who is both good at something and blindly accepts these "truisms". The good ones question it from the get-go, they may end up agreeing to the principle, but they don't just blindly accept and move on, instead they try to understand it. This is different than the dogma and hard rules I was talking about. edit: When I say mistakes should be encouraged I don't mean saying "yay you made a mistake! Here is a gold star." Or "Johnny you didn't make a mistake, no star for you". Instead I mean students should be told "It's ok to make mistakes, learn from them, it is a natural result as you gain understanding" Because in the end, humans learn by experience, both positive and negative.