{"id":37106,"date":"2021-06-04T11:15:48","date_gmt":"2021-06-04T15:15:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=37106"},"modified":"2021-06-06T21:19:38","modified_gmt":"2021-06-07T01:19:38","slug":"resilience-in-learning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/resilience-in-learning\/","title":{"rendered":"Resilience in Learning: Creating Antifragile Students"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is resilience in learning? Why is it so important to develop resilience<\/a> and antifragility in learning?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Resilience in learning has become one of the focal points of how we look at education. It’s important for students to try and fail, get messy, and maintain their curiosity. That’s how they develop antifragile systems for themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more about resilience in learning and why it matters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Learn<\/strong>ing the Antifragile <\/em>Way<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Chapter 16 takes a closer look at why modern, formalized education doesn\u2019t lead to the expected outcomes of practical skills at the individual level and economic growth at the national level. It comes back to the earlier concept of touristification, or removing randomness from life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

People who learn from textbooks and worksheets will have rigid, fragile knowledge that they can\u2019t apply in real-world settings.<\/strong> To illustrate the point, Taleb<\/a> discusses his own learning, which was split between formal schooling and voraciously reading whatever interested him at any given moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chapter 17 discusses the important difference between knowledge and probability\u2014or \u201ctruth\u201d\u2014and outcomes. The key point<\/a> is that people base their decisions on outcomes, no matter how unlikely those outcomes may be. Furthermore, every outcome has either more upside than downside, or vice versa; in other words, we\u2019re fragile or antifragile to the result. Seeking good outcomes and avoiding bad ones guides our actions far more than any concept of objective truth. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Antifragility and Resilience in Learning<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There are two main types of learning<\/a>: ludic<\/em>, which is arranged like a game with rules and scorekeeping; and ecological<\/em>, the natural method of learning by doing. Notably, there\u2019s very little crossover between these two areas\u2014skills that one develops through a game often don\u2019t carry over into real life. For example, there\u2019s little evidence that chess grandmasters think or strategize any better than anyone else when away from the chessboard. However, many people don\u2019t apply that same idea to skills learned in school, or through closely structured activities. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The biologist E.O. Wilson was quoted as saying that the biggest threat to children\u2019s development was the soccer mom. Wilson said that soccer moms repress children\u2019s natural love of living things; they stop their kids from playing in the dirt, picking up insects, and so on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the real problem with soccer moms is that they try to eliminate trial and error from their children\u2019s lives. They make a map and demand that the kids follow it exactly, which might turn them into good students, but makes them unable to handle the ambiguity and changeability of real life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The best kind of education is the one kids pursue themselves. Ideally, through browsing a library at home<\/a>, picking out whatever topics interest them, and augmenting that with trial and error in the real world. Children are natural autodidacts<\/em>\u2014self-teachers\u2014and that should be encouraged rather than repressed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taleb\u2019s Education<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In discussing his own experience with education, Taleb first describes himself as an autodidact, but quickly amends it to note that he does have formal degrees. He describes his learning in terms of the barbell model: He devoted exactly as much time and energy as he needed to pass his classes, and he used the rest to study whatever caught his interest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taleb quickly noted the limited material available in schools and how schools tried to force students to study certain topics and authors and cultivate specific ways of thinking. This is harmful and discouraging to a lot of students\u2014those who aren\u2019t interested or able to focus on the material might grow discouraged with the entire act of learning, instead of simply with those subjects and methods. Taleb reads voraciously, and always has, but the moment he feels his attention drifting he closes the book and looks for another. He allows natural interest and avoiding boredom to guide both his study and his life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his 20s, Taleb became a very wealthy man (getting what he describes as \u201cf*** you money*). His father attributes Taleb\u2019s success to the breadth of education he allowed and encouraged Taleb to pursue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the end, Taleb was drawn to probability and risk studies. He spent years reading everything he could about it, and nothing else. As always, he was guided by passion and boredom avoidance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Five years after starting on that new topic in earnest, he was set for life; his barbell method of learning paid off in a big way. <\/strong>Moreover, his fortune came largely from what he learned outside of the classroom, which left him with the impression that what people really need to know about a topic is found outside of the prescribed literature. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is resilience in learning? Why is it so important to develop resilience and antifragility in learning? Resilience in learning has become one of the focal points of how we look at education. It’s important for students to try and fail, get messy, and maintain their curiosity. That’s how they develop antifragile systems for themselves. Read more about resilience in learning and why it matters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":15298,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,43,24],"tags":[295],"class_list":["post-37106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-self-improvement","category-society","tag-antifragile","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nResilience in Learning: Creating Antifragile Students - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Resilience in learning is one of the most important skills a student can learn. Here's how students can become antifragile in school.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/resilience-in-learning\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Resilience in Learning: Creating Antifragile Students\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Resilience in learning is one of the most important skills a student can learn. Here's how students can become antifragile in school.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/resilience-in-learning\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-06-04T15:15:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-06-07T01:19:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/brain-on-fire-memory-formation-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Carrie Cabral\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Carrie Cabral\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/resilience-in-learning\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/resilience-in-learning\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Carrie Cabral\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2ababb7c63a94ff5d2190f71dc417d56\"},\"headline\":\"Resilience in Learning: Creating Antifragile Students\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-06-04T15:15:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-06-07T01:19:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/resilience-in-learning\/\"},\"wordCount\":798,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/resilience-in-learning\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/brain-on-fire-memory-formation-scaled.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Antifragile\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Education\",\"Self-Improvement\",\"Society\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/resilience-in-learning\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/resilience-in-learning\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/resilience-in-learning\/\",\"name\":\"Resilience in Learning: Creating Antifragile Students - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/resilience-in-learning\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/resilience-in-learning\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/brain-on-fire-memory-formation-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-06-04T15:15:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-06-07T01:19:38+00:00\",\"description\":\"Resilience in learning is one of the most important skills a student can learn. Here's how students can become antifragile in school.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/resilience-in-learning\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/resilience-in-learning\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/resilience-in-learning\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/brain-on-fire-memory-formation-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/brain-on-fire-memory-formation-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1600},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/resilience-in-learning\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Resilience in Learning: Creating Antifragile Students\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"description\":\"The World's Best Book Summaries\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":74,\"caption\":\"Shortform Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2ababb7c63a94ff5d2190f71dc417d56\",\"name\":\"Carrie Cabral\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9aea3c95254368e6bf388b046b35bacb82e4167f4c62c0813620e3a4ec51126?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9aea3c95254368e6bf388b046b35bacb82e4167f4c62c0813620e3a4ec51126?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Carrie Cabral\"},\"description\":\"Carrie has been reading and writing for as long as she can remember, and has always been open to reading anything put in front of her. She wrote her first short story at the age of six, about a lost dog who meets animal friends on his journey home. Surprisingly, it was never picked up by any major publishers, but did spark her passion for books. Carrie worked in book publishing for several years before getting an MFA in Creative Writing. She especially loves literary fiction, historical fiction, and social, cultural, and historical nonfiction that gets into the weeds of daily life.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/carrie\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Resilience in Learning: Creating Antifragile Students - Shortform Books","description":"Resilience in learning is one of the most important skills a student can learn. Here's how students can become antifragile in school.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/resilience-in-learning\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Resilience in Learning: Creating Antifragile Students","og_description":"Resilience in learning is one of the most important skills a student can learn. Here's how students can become antifragile in school.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/resilience-in-learning\/","og_site_name":"Shortform Books","article_published_time":"2021-06-04T15:15:48+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-06-07T01:19:38+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1600,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/brain-on-fire-memory-formation-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Carrie Cabral","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Carrie Cabral","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/resilience-in-learning\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/resilience-in-learning\/"},"author":{"name":"Carrie Cabral","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2ababb7c63a94ff5d2190f71dc417d56"},"headline":"Resilience in Learning: Creating Antifragile Students","datePublished":"2021-06-04T15:15:48+00:00","dateModified":"2021-06-07T01:19:38+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/resilience-in-learning\/"},"wordCount":798,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/resilience-in-learning\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/brain-on-fire-memory-formation-scaled.jpg","keywords":["Antifragile"],"articleSection":["Education","Self-Improvement","Society"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/resilience-in-learning\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/resilience-in-learning\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/resilience-in-learning\/","name":"Resilience in Learning: Creating Antifragile Students - Shortform Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/resilience-in-learning\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/resilience-in-learning\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/brain-on-fire-memory-formation-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2021-06-04T15:15:48+00:00","dateModified":"2021-06-07T01:19:38+00:00","description":"Resilience in learning is one of the most important skills a student can learn. Here's how students can become antifragile in school.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/resilience-in-learning\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/resilience-in-learning\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/resilience-in-learning\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/brain-on-fire-memory-formation-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/brain-on-fire-memory-formation-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1600},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/resilience-in-learning\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Resilience in Learning: Creating Antifragile Students"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","name":"Shortform Books","description":"The World's Best Book Summaries","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Shortform Books","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","width":500,"height":74,"caption":"Shortform Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2ababb7c63a94ff5d2190f71dc417d56","name":"Carrie Cabral","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9aea3c95254368e6bf388b046b35bacb82e4167f4c62c0813620e3a4ec51126?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9aea3c95254368e6bf388b046b35bacb82e4167f4c62c0813620e3a4ec51126?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Carrie Cabral"},"description":"Carrie has been reading and writing for as long as she can remember, and has always been open to reading anything put in front of her. She wrote her first short story at the age of six, about a lost dog who meets animal friends on his journey home. Surprisingly, it was never picked up by any major publishers, but did spark her passion for books. Carrie worked in book publishing for several years before getting an MFA in Creative Writing. She especially loves literary fiction, historical fiction, and social, cultural, and historical nonfiction that gets into the weeds of daily life.","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/carrie\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/brain-on-fire-memory-formation-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37106"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37106\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37792,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37106\/revisions\/37792"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}