I Love to Learn, but I Hate to be Taught

Abstract

Children naturally love to learn, but might not like to be taught in certain ways. Teachers’ improper ways of teaching might make a child shut down his or her willingness to learn, which is called not-learning. Not-learning does not refer to an incapability to learn, but is rather a choice a child intentionally or unintentionally makes to resist learning. This paper explains how not-learning is a major obstacle for children’s development and argues that teachers should be responsible for avoiding not-learning. This paper also discusses how teachers can use culturally relevant teaching to avert not-learning and help children have effective learning experience.