Toughen up - 12/06/2008

I recently read an article in favour of replacing ‘Happiness lessons’ with exercises aimed at making students tougher to instil a more robust and positive attitude. Rather than teaching students to be more in-tune to their sensitive, caring and emotional sides, some academics believe it is better to teach them to be mentally tough making them less likely to feel like victims of bullying. Academics also believe that exercises in mental toughness will encourage perseverance, which in turn will improve exam performances.

When reading this I could see the dilemma that schools face. Students do need to understand the importance of compassion for one another otherwise schools would be overrun with bullies. However, teaching students to be tougher is an important lesson to learn before they head out into the ‘real world’ of work; not being deterred by initial failure is an important quality to embrace.

Whilst the article raised some good issues, I did feel that maybe they were making the issue into something bigger than it needed to be. Robustness is something that develops with age and experience so why not leave students to develop these characteristics of their own accord? Or, why not teach students about being both compassionate and being tough by taking them on a trip to an outdoor activity/adventure centre.

Outdoor adventure centres often base many activities on team work; looking out for one another as well as facing fears. We took some students on a trip to Longrigg Residential Centre in Cumbria and many of them overcame fears of heights through abseiling and climbing exercises and some, including myself, overcame fears of claustrophobia with caving activities. Furthermore, by the end of our trip everyone had become much more caring and sensitive to each others needs following various team work exercises such as orienteering and problem solving activities. Surely schools can take a lesson from places like Longrigg and teach about both compassion and mental toughness side by side.

Regards,
Rachel Beech,
Buckinghamshire