“Struggle is not the opposite of learning. Struggle is the evidence that learning has begun.” – MJ Martin
Introduction
Learning is often misunderstood. Many people imagine learning as a smooth, natural process where the capable student understands quickly and the weaker student falls behind. This belief is not only wrong, it is damaging. Real learning is rarely easy. It requires confusion, effort, correction, patience, and persistence. The student who struggles is not failing. The student who struggles is often standing exactly where learning begins.
A powerful lesson can be drawn from the way struggle is sometimes treated in Japanese classrooms. When a young student is having difficulty with a grade school assignment, the teacher may bring that student to the blackboard, not to shame him, but to make the struggle visible. The class watches as the student works through the problem. The student may make mistakes. He may pause. He may need encouragement. Yet the classroom does not treat this as failure. Instead, the class supports him, waits with him, and applauds when he finally succeeds.
The Blackboard as a Place of Growth
In this example, the blackboard is not a stage for showing off intelligence. It is a place where learning happens in public. The student’s difficulty is not hidden. It is not treated as an embarrassment. It becomes a shared moment of effort. The teacher is showing the class that struggle is normal, and that persistence matters as much as quickness.
This approach teaches every student an important lesson. It tells the strong students that learning is not only about being fast. It tells the struggling student that he is not alone. It tells the whole class that the process of working through difficulty has value. Success becomes something earned through effort, not something reserved only for those who understand immediately.
The Canadian View of Struggle
In many Canadian classrooms, the blackboard can represent something very different. Too often, the students called to the board are the ones most likely to succeed. They are the quickest, the most confident, or the most visibly advanced. Their performance confirms that they are smart. The struggling students often remain seated, silent, and invisible.
This creates a dangerous message. It suggests that intelligence is proven by speed and ease. It suggests that struggle means weakness. Students who do not understand quickly may begin to believe they are not capable. Instead of seeing difficulty as part of learning, they may see it as evidence that they do not belong.
That belief can follow people into adulthood. Many adults avoid new skills, difficult conversations, unfamiliar technology, challenging work, or higher education because they fear the discomfort of not knowing. They mistake temporary confusion for permanent inability.
Struggle Is the Process
The truth is simple. Struggling is not the opposite of learning. Struggling is part of learning. A person who never struggles is probably not being stretched very far. Growth requires tension. Muscles become stronger through resistance. Skills develop through practice. Understanding deepens through mistakes, feedback, and revision.
When students learn that struggle is normal, they become more resilient. They are more willing to attempt difficult problems. They are less afraid of being wrong. They learn to stay with the work long enough for understanding to emerge. This is not just an academic lesson. It is a life lesson.
Canadian Utilities
This issue affects adults in Canadian utilities because the sector is undergoing constant technical change, including advanced metering, AMI networks, cybersecurity controls, data analytics, electrification, distributed energy resources, and new customer service platforms. Similar impacts are affecting the water and gas utilities too.
Many experienced utility employees were trained in an earlier operating environment where mechanical systems, manual processes, and field experience carried the business. When new digital tools are introduced, some adults may struggle at first, and that struggle can be misread as resistance, incompetence, or lack of intelligence.
In reality, it is often the normal discomfort of learning a new system while still carrying the pressure of daily operations, safety obligations, regulatory compliance, and customer expectations. Canadian utilities need to recognize that adult learning requires patience, coaching, repetition, and psychological safety. A technician learning a new handheld device, a billing clerk learning a new CIS workflow, or a manager learning to interpret AMI data should not be treated as failing. They are working through the learning curve. If utilities treat struggle as part of professional development, they will build stronger teams, reduce fear of innovation, and create a culture where people are willing to learn the next generation of utility technology.
Summary
Canadian adults need to rethink the meaning of struggle. A struggling student is not necessarily lazy, slow, or unintelligent. More often, that student is in the middle of the learning process. The proper response is not shame. It is support, patience, and encouragement.
The Japanese classroom example reminds us that success is more meaningful when the struggle is respected. Learning should not be treated as a contest where only the fastest students are celebrated. It should be treated as a human process where effort is visible, difficulty is expected, and eventual success is applauded.
Learning is a struggle. That is not a problem to be avoided. It is the path forward.
About the Author:
Michael Martin is the Vice President of Technology with Metercor Inc., a Smart Meter, IoT, and Smart City systems integrator based in Canada. He has more than 40 years of experience in systems design for applications that use broadband networks, optical fibre, wireless, and digital communications technologies. He is a business and technology consultant. He was a senior executive consultant for 15 years with IBM, where he worked in the GBS Global Center of Competency for Energy and Utilities and the GTS Global Center of Excellence for Energy and Utilities. He is a founding partner and President of MICAN Communications and before that was President of Comlink Systems Limited and Ensat Broadcast Services, Inc., both divisions of Cygnal Technologies Corporation (CYN: TSX).
Martin served on the Board of Directors for TeraGo Inc (TGO: TSX) and on the Board of Directors for Avante Logixx Inc. (XX: TSX.V). He has served as a Member, SCC ISO-IEC JTC 1/SC-41 – Internet of Things and related technologies, ISO – International Organization for Standardization, and as a member of the NIST SP 500-325 Fog Computing Conceptual Model, National Institute of Standards and Technology. He served on the Board of Governors of the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) [now Ontario Tech University] and on the Board of Advisers of five different Colleges in Ontario – Centennial College, Humber College, George Brown College, Durham College, Ryerson Polytechnic University [now Toronto Metropolitan University]. For 16 years he served on the Board of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), Toronto Section.
He holds three master’s degrees – in business (MBA), communication (MA), and education (MEd). As well, he has three undergraduate diplomas and seven major certifications in business, computer programming, internetworking, project management, media, photography, and communication technology. He has completed over 80 next generation MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) [aka Micro Learning] continuous education programs in a wide variety of topics, including: Economics, Python Programming, Internet of Things, Cloud, Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive systems, Blockchain, Agile, Power BI, Big Data, Design Thinking, Security, Indigenous Canada awareness, and more.
Martin in a volunteer, a photographer, a learner, a technologist, a philosophizer, and a romantic optimist.