Varun Juneja, Associate Director, CodingZen
In a world defined by rapid technological and social change, education must evolve beyond memorisation. Today, one of the most critical yet overlooked skills is unlearning—the ability to let go of outdated, irrelevant, or incorrect information.
The Myth of “Once Learned, Always True”
Traditional education rewards certainty and fact retention. But what happens when facts change? Take Pluto, once a planet, now reclassified. Many students struggle—not due to a lack of intelligence—but because they were never taught to question what they learn.
This rigid approach creates a disconnect between what schools teach and what the real world demands: adaptability.
Unlearning: The Heart of Cognitive Agility
Unlearning isn’t forgetting; it’s reassessing prior knowledge in light of new evidence. Psychologists call this cognitive flexibility—the ability to shift thinking and adapt. As students prepare for jobs and challenges that don’t yet exist, this mindset becomes more valuable than simply being right.
Why Unlearning Matters for Young Minds
Children often resist updates to what they’ve learned—be it a new math method or evolving social norms. This isn’t a failure of comprehension, but a symptom of a system focused more on rote learning than reflection.
True learning thrives in curiosity. When students are free to revise their understanding, they develop critical thinking and lifelong adaptability.
Making Unlearning a Core Skill
To embed unlearning into education, we must shift both methods and mindsets:
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Encourage Questions
Foster dialogue with prompts like “Could there be another way to look at this?” -
Normalize Changing One’s Mind
Celebrate when students update their thinking—it builds intellectual resilience. -
Use Contradictions as Teaching Moments
Highlight how knowledge has changed over time—even among experts. -
Teach Metacognition
Help students reflect on how they learn and evaluate their methods. -
Showcase Adaptive Role Models
Share stories of leaders who succeeded by rethinking what they once believed.
Rethinking the Classroom
Envision classrooms that nurture mental agility, where saying “I was wrong” is not a failure, but a strength. Here, the goal isn’t to deliver static content but to cultivate minds capable of evolving.
The Real Power of Unlearning
Unlearning isn’t about discarding knowledge—it’s about refining it. It clears the path for deeper understanding and equips learners to thrive in uncertainty.
As the world changes faster than ever, education must keep pace—not just by teaching students to learn, but to relearn. The future belongs not to the most informed, but to the most adaptable.
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