Last time, I suggested we need more failure in order to succeed. This is so obvious to me that there seems little need for a blog post on this….but you don’t know the experts who teach and lead our education system in America. If only we had a leader like Winston Churchill to help us….he understood that failure was normal, perhaps even invited, but that it should never define you. Instead, we are awash in people who not only are afraid of learning from failure but think that somehow failure should never be allowed to confront you. They think you should just be passed along, even if your work is subpar, inferior or, well, a failing effort.
At my College, there is always a specter of being “in trouble” if the “success rate” in your class dips below 70%. This means, of course, that you need 70% or more of your class to pass. Now, of course, if you asked any leader, they would say openly that they don’t really mean that you should someone make your class easier or that you should just give out high grades. They will often proclaim their full support for more academic rigor.
Yet, the conversation will always come back to how many students did or did not pass the class. And, in almost every conversation, round table or written exchange on this point, the focus of “fixing this” lies with the professor. Now, understand that I completely agree that there are many professors who need to really make some serious changes to what they do and how they do it in their classroom. However, in the main, the issue of what to do with student success is not first, nor foremost, the issue of the professor.
Here we come to the jarring understanding that many of our leaders, for at least the last two decades (if not longer) no longer believe that failing is useful. In fact, for some time, our College used to indulge in this utopian thinking when it would be said that anyone can learn anything at any time. Of course, this phrase has lost of parsing to do and can be twisted in many directions. Certainly, at a very basic level, I think people can pretty much grasp a rudimentary understanding, and in many cases, if someone wanted to devote a lifetime to a thing, they could probably grasp any topic, any subject, any language or any competency.
That, however, is not really what is being suggested here. Instead, it is implied by some that anyone can pass college-level work, regardless. For myself, this idea is bankrupt and part of the great damaging lie that has spread through our culture. It is untrue that you can do whatever you want in life. No matter how badly I want it, I will not play in the NBA nor will my dream of a career in music happen.
I teach you here how to Live Well and I do teach you to dream, to goal-set and to work with diligence to go after your dreams. Yet, at points, it is also true that you will confront failure. Some failure will propel you forward, over the obstacle in further pursuit of the prize. Other failures will be the illuminating moment that you must alter your aim. Regardless, there will some things that you cannot do or cannot do well. You will fail when you try. The key is learning from the failure, not letting it doom your progress.
As the quote from Winston Churchill goes, “Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts.” Note, he does not say “failure should never happen” nor “failure is not something you should experience” or “others should save you from failure.” Instead, it is a clear understanding that failures will come…they are inevitable…and when they come, you learn.
And that learning…isn’t that the point of education anyway?