Detrimental attitude or emotional state
Almost all children first enter school with a positive attitude. They are generally keen to take part in classroom activities and they expect to be successful when attempting everything the teacher asks them to do. However, it doesn’t take long for some children to experience failure or personal inadequacy. Perhaps something they try to do does not work out well – a drawing turns out badly and other children laugh at it; or when asked to write the numeral 12 on the board the child writes it as 21, again resulting in embarrassment.
The child is quick to realize that if he or she stops drawing pictures and avoids being called upon to write on the board, the chances of being ridiculed are greatly reduced. This is the beginning of the well-known ‘failure syndrome’ in which the child, through fear of getting something wrong, avoids participating fully in important learning activities, and thus begins to fall behind other children through passivity and lack of practice. Some children will try to protect their feeling of self-worth by refusing to attempt any task the teacher sets for them. They would rather be thought of as naughty and disobedient than run the risk of revealing that they can’t do the work.
The effect of failure on a child’s confidence and motivation can be devastating. It must be acknowledged that failure is not a pleasing experience, and given sufficient exposure to it almost any student will develop
avoidance strategies. From a child’s point of view, the basic message of the ‘failure syndrome’ is that, ‘If at first you don’t succeed, maybe you will never succeed’. The ‘failure syndrome’ probably accounts for many
instances of ongoing learning difficulties and avoidance behaviour across all school subjects. The effects of early failure are cumulative.
Constant failure can lead to the state called ‘learned helplessness’, in which the child comes to believe that he or she is incapable of succeeding with anything new the teacher introduces. The child cannot conceive of
being able to succeed through personal effort and has to rely instead on strong support from others. This encourages the child to become passive and dependent rather than active in learning situations. Learned helplessness greatly impairs motivation and participation.
Learning difficulties can also be caused if a child is distracted by anxiety about some aspect of family life, such as arguing between parents, fear of parental separation, illness or financial problems. Other worries may relate
to friendship difficulties within the peer group. This type of worrying or anxiety can prevent a child from concentrating in class.
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