Hearing “you’re wrong” could be the right thing
A CQUniversity educational neuroscience expert is challenging one of modern education’s most sensitive cultural shifts – the growing reluctance to tell students when they are wrong.
According to CQUniversity Adjunct Senior Lecturer Dr Ragnar Purje, avoiding direct correction in classrooms may be undermining resilience, competence and long-term learning outcomes in young Australians.
Instead, he argues that mistakes, errors, and corrections are not harmful experiences to be avoided, but essential parts of human development.
“There is nothing wrong with telling someone they are wrong or being told you are wrong,” Dr Purje said.
“Human beings learn through mistakes, errors, corrections and successes. They always have, and they always will.”
Drawing on neuroscience, educational psychology and developmental research, Dr Purje said the brain develops knowledge and competence through repeated cycles of trial, error, feedback and adjustment.
“When mistakes occur, they are usually unintentional,” he said.
“In many cases, people do not yet understand why the mistake happened. That is why awareness and correction matter. They help reveal what is true and what needs to change.”
The comments come amid ongoing national debate around student wellbeing, classroom behaviour, persistence, perseverance, resilience, and the reported decline in academic standards.
Dr Purje believes modern education systems may increasingly confuse correction with criticism – and discomfort with harm.
“Being corrected is not an insult,” he said.
“It is information. It reveals the gap between what we thought was happening and what was actually happening. That process is how learning advances.”
He said the foundations of this learning process are visible from early childhood.
“When children play, they naturally engage in direct correction all the time,” Dr Purje said.
“They say things like, ‘That’s wrong’, ‘You’re out’, or ‘That’s not fair’. They learn through trial, repetition, feedback and adaptation.
“Children also learn by gaining insight into what is right and what is wrong, and by having the insight to change thoughts, opinions and actions – all of which bring into existence ethical and moral developmental potential.”
According to Dr Purje, this process helps children develop and enhance resilience, self-confidence, accountability and adaptive problem-solving abilities.
“Play teaches children how to respond when things go wrong,” he said.
“It teaches them to adjust, persevere and continue.”
He argues those same principles remain critically important throughout schooling, university and adult life.
“A teacher saying ‘that answer is wrong’ is not diminishing a student’s value,” he said.
“They are illuminating the next step. They are identifying the difference between what is known, what is unknown and what is possible.”
Dr Purje warned that broader social trends may be making younger generations less comfortable with disagreement, challenge and accountability.
“But the ability to recognise mistakes, accept feedback and adapt behaviour is one of the most important human capacities,” he said.
“The pursuit of excellence depends on honesty, clarity and a willingness to confront reality.
“If we lose the ability to engage openly with mistakes and correction, we risk weakening resilience, competence, persistence, perseverance and critical thinking itself.”
