The Culture of 'Rubbing Out' - Why erasers should be banned from the classroom

                                     

A six year old child, lets call her Millie, has been learning to write only one year. In class she is writing the sentence- 'I am really good at handstands'. At least, that is what she is trying to write. Instead she writes 'I am relly gud at handsad'. The teacher comes over to check her work, asks her what she has written, Millie tells the teacher 'it says I am really good at handstands'. The teacher spots the spelling mistakes, and goes through each word that has been incorrectly spelt, explaining the changes that need to be made. Millie immediately reaches for the eraser to quickly scrub out the errors. Nooooo! I hear my conscience cry out. Don't rub it out, cross it out and write it again, you can fit in the letters that you've missed out.

Instilled in our culture is that terrible emotion we feel when we make mistakes. Shame.

Why? WHY? Why should we be ashamed of our mistakes? Mistakes are the very essence of being human! One of the fundamental glories of our human nature is to make mistakes and learn from them! What benefit is there is erasing errors and pretending they never happened? Yes, mistakes can make us feel uncomfortable and even upset us, but how can we strive to be better and understand ourselves if we do not identify our errors and see them for what they are- opportunities to learn. For Millie to rub out her writing and write the word again, she may as well be using one of these- 

MIB neuralyzer.

Cognitive scientist Guy Claxton agrees following research that has suggested that "resilience and curiosity are two essential ingredients for pupils' success." - 'Ban erasers from the classroom', Daily Telegraph 26th May 2015. Claxton says that erasers are an 'instrument of the devil' because it 'perpetuates a culture of shame about error.' Children 'need to be interested the process of getting the right answer because that's what it's like in the big wide world.' No one gets the answer right the first time. Errors are how we learn and how we are shaped as individuals.

When I am a teacher, I will not be able to encourage the use of an eraser. There is no shame in Millie writing this:

'I am reAlly guood at handsadstands.'

'I am really good at handstands.'

Millie has corrected her errors, she has written the sentence again. There is no better way to learn than acknowledging an error. There is no negative connotations with 'mistakes'. We are simply understanding and learning.

EDIT 4/9/15 After relaying my thoughts to a class teacher, they said that if a six year old had made many spelling mistakes in their sentences, they would generally not correct all errors. It would discourage the child. It's more important that a six year old is collecting their thoughts and writing them down, rather than spelling every word correctly. Classes have spelling tests to identify words that need to be learnt, getting into the habit of writing is of importance before words are spelt correctly.