Two twelve year old girls went into the school bathroom and wrote on the wall with a magic marker. You would never suspect that these two lovely, bright students would do such a thing. Their teacher discovered the graffiti and thought it would be a great chance for them to learn something from their actions.

He quietly asked them to leave their studies in the library and come with him to the bathroom. A long awkward silence followed his question, “What about this?” Finally one girl answered, “We wrote on the wall.”

The girls received an assignment to write a two page paper, which included:
1.    The facts of what happened
2.    A plan to balance or correct the mistake
3.    Defining the words; vandalism, honesty and balance
4.    Have parents sign it

According to their parents, the girls procrastinated but stayed up late completing the assignment. They chose to remove the graffiti by sanding and repainting the wall. One of the Dads came to help on the weekend. The girls were surprised by what they learned about vandalism and most importantly neither one of them felt guilty about their mistake.

They were not publicly humiliated, as learning can’t happen in an atmosphere of ridicule. They were not shamed. In fact, they were told by the teacher that their work was beautiful and he was proud of how they handled the mistake. Can we see a mistake as an opportunity to learn?