Control and Letting Go

Education is traditionally about control—controlling what students learn (the teacher or facilitator decides), how they learn (the teacher or facilitator decides) and how well they can retain what they’ve heard or read (the teacher or facilitator tests). Letting go of control can be both difficult and necessary when cultivating meaningful and holistic learning spaces. Letting go is paradoxically hard work and involves designing, guiding, facilitating, and holding space but not controlling what happens. I have observed that if I grow fearful and step in to try to control what I think the group ought to be learning, the creative flow of learning quickly disappears. Letting go is rigorous, whole person work, work that takes awareness, willingness, and steadiness. I offer an example class session in which I learned about cultivating rich and complex learning by letting go of control.