Mastering the Art of Learning

All parents would like to inspire in their children a love of learning. They
undoubtedly want to help them find passionate interests, and develop
the drive to reach high levels of achievement in those interests. The
question is how?
Josh Waitz kin could put a tick next to all those boxes by the age of nine
when he won his first National Chess Championship. After the release of
the film based on his life, Searching for Bobby Fisher, the media frenz y
and pressure to perform, in combination with a new coach, drastically
altered his chess career. He drifted away from competitive chess in
search of other pursuits, and since then has reached high achievement in
the martial arts, becoming a master of Tai Chi Chuan and earning the title
of World Champion.
In his book, The Art of Learning, Waitz kin maps out the factors that have lead to his success starting as
a young child:

1. Praise t he process
What happens when your child comes home with an A on his math test? Most likely he gets praise, but
it's the quality of that praise that matters, says Waitz kin. It's important to compliment your child on the
work that was done to get the A, rather than the grade itself. It's the difference between saying Wow,
you're smart in math! and saying I'm so proud of how hard you worked.
The psychology behind this goes back to two central theories of intelligence. The entity theory of
intelligence says that success or failure is wrapped up in ability. Entity learners are more prone to quit,
having developed a learned helplessness from years of thinking in the black and white frame of, I'm
smart at math, but I'm bad at English. Waitz kin says a focus on results can also lead to a fear of failure
which often cultivates an I don't care attitude among entity learners. If you don't care, then failure
doesn't matter, right? The incremental theory of intelligence says that success is directly related to
effort, which suggests that learning happens in stages. This way of thinking allows kids to be masteroriented, not results oriented. And when that happens, anything is possible. Whenever you see
someone fail or succeed, talk about the process, the mistakes that got them to that place, Waitz kin
says. Have everything focus on the journey.
Waitz kin suggests that parents discuss this process-focused language with their child's teacher.
Otherwise, you'll have two steps forward in one setting and two steps back in another, he says.

2. Invest in loss
Once kids learn to be at peace with failures, they can then learn to use their imperfections to their
advantage when faced with adversity. Investment in loss is giving yourself to the learning process,
Waitz kin says. He uses an example from his young chess career, when dirty-handed opponents
would get him angry and throw him off his game. Instead of stifling myself, I needed to channel my
mood into heightened focus, Waitz kin says.

3. Lead by example
As Waitz kin can testify, "perfect" is a dangerous word. It's so liberating for kids to know they're

allowed to be imperfect, he says. How do you communicate that to your child? Show them your own
vulnerability. If parents show they've made mistakes, kids feel okay making mistakes. It doesn't
mean that those mistakes don't matter, but recogniz ing them is the first step towards learning from
them.
In The Art of Learning, Waitz kin describes a student he knows named Danny who falls in love with
chess and begins to compete. His mother gets caught up in the exciting atmosphere of these chess
tournaments. She finds her own sense of well-being fluctuating with Danny's wins and losses,
Waitz kin says. ...When Danny loses, she want to tell him it doesn't matter. But obviously it does
matter. He lost and is sad. To tell him it doesn't matter is almost to insult his intelligence. What should
she do?
If Danny loses, empathy is a good place to start, Waitz kin saysthat means hugs, a shoulder to cry
on, and praise for his hard work . She can tell Danny that it is okay to be sad, that she understands
and that she loves him. Disappointment is a part of the road to greatness. When a few moments pass,
in a quiet voice, she can ask Danny if he knows what happened in the game... Did he lose his
concentration? Was he overconfident? Impatient?
If Danny wins, Waitz kin says there's nothing wrong with his mom jumping up and down in jubilation, but
after the initial celebration it's time to move on to the next challenge.

4 . Be Wary of t he Cookie Cut t er

Waitz kin emphasiz es the importance of focusing on ideas, rather than memoriz ation of facts; the
importance of falling in love with an activity, rather than following a set path to achievement. Find what
a child is naturally passionate about and do it in a way that they love (either in auditory, visual, or
kinesthetic modes), he says. You don't want the cookie cutter mold in the learning process.
So much of learning today involves the transfer of information, Waitz kin says, but that can really z ap
the passion out of learning for the sake of knowing. Facts are really a vehicle for reaching the resonant
themes which stick with us. The way we work with kids should be shifted to embrace that reality, he
says.

5. Dig Deeply
While it's important to raise well-rounded children, it's equally important to allow children to sink their
teeth into the thing that they love, Waitz kin says. When they have skills it's a beacon for the rest of
their lives, he says. There's something beautiful about a child diving deeply. They learn how beautiful
it feels to focus on something.
That's why the current multi-tasking craz e is so worrying to Waitz kin. He sat in on a recent lecture
given by one of his former professors, and to his horror he found students on their laptops shopping
for shoes, checking out their Facebook profiles, playing solitaire, among other activities. Students
defend this trend by citing their enhanced ability to multi-task. Unfortunately, the human mind cannot, in
fact, multi-task without drastically reducing the quality of of our processing, he says.
But, multitasking is just a symptom, according to Waitz kin. The root of the problem is disengagement.
The fear of failure that comes with results-oriented learning, the inability to invest in loss, the lack of
healthy role modeling during failure, and the cookie cutter mold of tests and grades all contribute to
this disengagement from the love of learning, he argues.
If parents, teachers, and students themselves, work to develop an incremental process of learning,

where one deeply studied idea or skill leads onto another, this generation of kids will have more
opportunity to experience greatness.
As part of his research in this area, Waitz kin has set out a challenge for kids through his educational
nonprofit, The JW Foundation: What would happen if you gave up video games for three weeks? Can
you do it? How would the experience change you?
If you think that your child is a good candidate for this challenge, ask her to post her experiences
through the JW Foundation Group page on Education.com so that Josh can document them for his
research.