Rowling's benefit of failure speech to the Harvard graduates shines a light on what we all fear most. In society we grow each day whether that be as a student, teacher, or professional. a persons level of success depends on how much you are willing to fail. Education in today's society should be teaching our students how to succeed in an applied world. Too often students consume and regurgitate with information without complete understanding of what to with the knowledge. As educators we need to challenge our students beyond the letter grade and to work toward the unexplained. Self exploration in education teaches a student that they may not have the answer in front of them and that sometimes they may guess wrong but through perseverance the goal is achievable. Expecting perfection or a life without lose is unrealistic. Students need to taught the benefits of failure and the primary lesson being that it is not the end of the world and in order to succeed you must get up and work harder.
In the sometimes make believe world of independent schools we are faced with the challenge of having parents who refuse to believe that their child may not be perfect and will do anything to protect them from failure. The lesson of failure may not be easy to swallow but as hard as it may be the ability to bounce back a move forward is that much more rewarding. Year after year we have numerous 9th graders who enter upper school with the assumption it is their right to be valedictorian. It is the job of the school to educate each student to his or her fullest and unfortunately some children's tanks are not as large as others. Along the way we must ensure that those who do not reach the original goal are reassured and given the encouragement to continue to reassess their own personal growth.
Chris,
ReplyDelete"Self exploration in education teaches a student that they may not have the answer in front of them and that sometimes they may guess wrong but through perseverance the goal is achievable"...Love this!
Far too many times since I started teaching middle school Science, my middle school students (girls in particular) want to achieve perfection. They strive for the 100% on tests, doing labs, and other graded assignments. They put pressure on themselves to achieve this perfection. Many teacher/parent conferences and counselor conferences have been made in order to help students with this. Many, many tears have been shed in the last few years by the students who put this extra pressure on themselves. As a teacher, I have continued to reassure them that perfection is not always needed. Like you said, bouncing back and moving forward is a life-lesson that needs to be learned. Honestly, the sooner students learn it, whether in academics or extra-curricular activities, the better!
Great posts! I agree that parents, I myself, are to blame for kids today always feeling like they have to succeed. It is heartbreaking to see your child work so hard on something and it not be perfect. Many times, I want to soften the blow for her. I do tend to have a thicker skin with high school students than my own child.
ReplyDeleteIt is awesome to feel like you have accomplished something but at the same time, its impossible to never fail. I believe children as well as adults have to fail to really appreciate what they are learning or experiencing. This pertains to everyday life lessons, extra curriculur sports, academics, etc. I see it everyday where I teach. If a student doesnt pass a test, or complete their homework it is always the teacher's fault. Either the teacher doesnt teach, he/she didnt say what the homework was, etc. Ive heard all the excuses in the book.
I definitely can relate to students just regurgitating information on the test. If I were to test the same students a week later on the material, they probably wouldnt do as well as before. I do feel that students today are stressed out and have too many things on their plate. Many parents put alot of stress on their kids, concerning academics, after school activities and helping around at home. Its all about prioritizing and setting goals that one can see where they have been and know where they want to go to accomplish something.
Amie
I have not dealt with the parent end of it much yet. My oldest is 10 and a pretty good student. I do believe she can don better but sometimes it is ok to let them realize that themselves with encouragement rather than demands. Like I said, very inexperienced here. No telling what my reaction is going to be when it is not going like expected.
ReplyDelete