Painless Education: A Utopian Daydream

Our society has declared war against all pain. Modern childrearing practices frown on any physical or psychological consequences. Discipline is supposed to be done in a calm, verbal manner. The parents are supposed to explain to the child why he should make a different choice.
The more forceful end of the modern discipline continuum is saying, "Go to time out." Possible trauma is the excuse used to dismiss admonishing or slapping a child's hand or behind, even though these methods have been proven effective over centuries.
Our dental industry is so committed to creating a painless experience that Novocain and more powerful sedatives are given out as candy even without a patient's request. Dental personnel are constantly asking the patient if there is any pain they will stop immediately. The major mission of the staff is being seen as not causing any discomfort.
Our national elites have jumped on the painless bandwagon by bailing out everyone and his brother to make our economic downturn a painless recovery. The incompetent CEOs of our largest failing institutions are being handed "golden parachutes" worth millions so as to keep them afloat with the rich and infamous. Chapter 11 is deemed too painful an alternative for mismanaged mega companies. There is no discussion by our government leaders to punish the illegal acts that got us into this economic mess. That would be too painful.
The culture of avoidance of painful consequences is also conspicuous in public education. Learning is marketed as a series of interesting and entertaining activities. The parents of students are elated when there are photos of their children, fellow students or their teachers in the newspaper. The children's eagerness to go to school and socialize with their classmates convinces the parents he is in a wholesome atmosphere. Parents are assured by high grades and honor-roll status that their child is prospering in an outstanding learning environment. When learning becomes fun and easy for everyone, then everyone will obtain the highest degrees offered in all academic subjects.
However, this painless learning does not exist for academically successful students. They have to deal with the inevitable pain of learning or they will not reach the competency level necessary in all their studies. Many students enjoy hands-on learning, others verbal or mathematical studies, but rarely does a student relish them all. Sooner or later students will have to deal with teachers and other students who they do not like. Complaining is common. Learning to deal with these academic, social and emotional issues can be taxing and painful but are necessary lessons needed to mature.
Even excellent students, who do well with little effort, as they advance to higher grades, will "hit a wall." It may be in elementary, high school or at the university level. All students will be confronted by their own shortcomings. The earlier in his academic experience a student identifies a personal deficiency, the better. It gives the student more time to use to develop ways of compensating for a particular weakness.
In a utopian world, parents would be ecstatic for their children if they would never have to complete an assignment or participate with students or teachers who they do not like. Nor would they want them to be in an anxiety provoking competition for placement in a university.
Except, the reality is that highly motivated foreign students in this global economy are challenging American students. Our academic achievement ranks in the middle as compared to other nations. Students from foreign countries are flocking into our universities competing on a high level with our best and brightest. Most of the engineers graduating from U.S. programs are not Americans. Our students need to put their noses to the grindstone to be viable in this international job pool.
Besides death and taxes as certainty of life, we should add pain to the list. Anyone who attempts to eliminate all pain from his life is going to be disappointed. Many of the most important lessons of life are retained and appreciated because of the accompanying pain. The pain helps us to remember. The struggles of memorizing the multiplication tables, the preamble to the Constitution or the rules of grammar turns to pride when the task is accomplished. Developing a tolerance for frustration gives us the focused time necessary to solve the problem.
Attempting to avoid pain inherent in learning limits student's ability to excel.
Conquering the pain attached to any goal is necessary to reach the objective. Parents need to encourage and even pressure their child into maintaining high standards no matter how frequent and loud the child protests. Picking oneself up after any failure teaches ways to better succeed the next time. All of us need to learn to solve our own problems or remain dependent on others, often our parents.
On a youngster's journey to adulthood, he will face many problems he can only solve through the power of persevering to become educated.