Learning inside the comfort zone- A tough challenge

I was speaking to a group of students inside a classroom and checking on what they had learned in the previous semester. I wasn't able to glean much from them except sickly compromised smiles which were more like an entreaty that I should stop the uncomfortable probing. 

Comfort and learning do not seem to like each other and fail to thrive in each others' presence. Learning by essence would mean an urgent desire to break through the limited understanding of the self and seek knowledge or insight  beyond what is already known. It is an energy intensive activity which counters the 'natural' entropy of the human condition. It would necessitate active questioning by the learner, within and without, and genuine attempts to grapple with problem-solving, be they case studies or science numerical questions or complex mathematical derivations or any other which need comprehending and analytical skills.

A comfort zone for the students is any physical or mental condition which creates a 'false' sense of security for the learner's mind. This can either create a faulty self-impression of adequate competence in the domain sought to be learned or worse still, a kind of temporary deadening of interest and a sort of drift mindset wherein the learner glides, as it were, from one lesson to the other feeling good about it but actually achieving very little. It is the latter types which I often encounter in my classroom sojourns to talk to students. These have to yanked out of their inertial frame of self-reference ( Einstein Sir, my apologies!) and made to see reality as it is. 

The reality would be the scores in tests and assessments, formative and summative. Looking hard at reality in an emotionally detached analytical way needs serious courage in what can be an essentially very uncomfortable process. The truth is that emotional detachment is a myth and all kinds of guilt scripts, not being good enough and negativistic thoughts will be unleashed when a learner starts confronting the reality of what he is, indeed, learning or not learning.

'Assessment drives learning' remains the fundamental dictum. The challenge is to be able to facilitate and deliver assessment outcomes to learners with ruthless compassion, the kind which make good educators into great ones and great educators into teaching legends.