Can Failure Lead to Success?

            Parents can strengthen their family, community, and nation by helping their children to understand that growth requires some risk. Reports continue to be published about how the American educational system is failing. The educational system is failing our children despite the huge amounts of wealth poured into education and the many opportunities given to students.

            Brian Bumbalo reminded his readers that failure is often necessary before achieving success. Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Henry Ford, and many other people failed numerous times before becoming successful. Bumbalo admitted being frustrated because students today are not allowed to fail. He said that a system that “leaves no room for growth or risk-taking” often “creates an anxiety-ridden and apathetic generation.” This philosophy results in “an abject failure.” 

This philosophy of not letting a child fail aligns with what is called a “standards-based” grading system. In this system, there is no accountability for missed assignments or poor tests grades. Students are simply able to turn in the assignments when they get around to it and redo tests for a better grade. This practice destroys any hope of teaching responsibility and accountability in the classroom. This “new” grading system is nothing more than a sleight-of-hand by repackaging failure avoidance to justify the delusional dream of a world where no one is accountable and everyone is a winner.

When the realization of failure eventually hits this generation like a tone of bricks, who will be there to pick up the pieces? Purposely prolonging failure avoidance will just keep this generation on the sidelines, fearful of stepping into the arena of life. We as educators, parents, and the educational institutions involved have an obligation to make sure our children are not wasting away on the sidelines. We must teach them how to deal with setbacks and take responsibility instead of surreptitiously teaching that failure avoidance is some kind of virtue.

            Bumbalo stated that it would be easy to blame this failing philosophy on the colleges and universities that are educating and training the teachers and administrators. He suggested that blame could be put on “the purposeful elimination of competition.” Children play soccer and other sports but scores are not kept ensuring that no child feels like a loser. Then every child gets a participation trophy that proclaims them the “Most Valuable Player.” One problem with this idea is that the children are not fooled, and they know which team scored the most points. They know if they are the most valuable player or not. Bumbalo gave “five ways that school systems, educators, and parents can tackle the issue of failure avoidance.”

1. Hold students accountable for their academic responsibilities.

When an assignment is given to a student, the natural expectation is for the student to complete the assignment and to complete it on time. If the student does not complete the assignment by a given due date, the natural expectation is to receive a zero for the assignment. Barring any unforeseen circumstances outside the student’s control, the expectations above seem cut and dried. Unfortunately, this is generally not the case….   

2. Stop social promotions.

The practice of promoting or moving students to the next grade level or next content-specific class simply because he just needs too “move on” is inexcusable. If a student has not actually satisfied the academic requirements, he should not move on. School systems are doing the student and the next teacher a tremendous disservice by passing a student who does not truly meet the academic expectations. More troubling is the fact that teachers feel pressured to pass students, not because the grade was earned, but to avoid having a potentially high failure rate….

3. Resist putting the social and emotional needs of a student disproportionately above his academic needs.

We all understand the need for students to grow socially and emotionally. This, however, cannot be at the expense of their academic growth. Today’s school counselors are spending less time discussing potential future careers and spending more time consoling anxiety-ridden children with daily mental breakdowns….

4. Do not purposely set students up for failure by treating education as a one size fits all.

When schools assume that most or all students will attend college, they automatically set up a portion of the school population for failure. The limited capability to enroll students in vocational schools leaves many students wasting away in trigonometry when they would rather learn to wire a house. This inability

to service such students with the billions of dollars being allocated for education is appalling.

5. Instead of failure avoidance, treat failure as an opportunity.

There is always a lesson to be learned in failure. Sometimes it may be a painful lesson. Other times it may be something as simple as “I cannot properly cook a pizza faster simply by turning up the oven.” Regardless, there is always a lesson. When we start to think of failure as an opportunity to grow, the fear that causes avoidance may just transform into the courage you need to move forward.

Parents, teachers, and other leaders can help the rising generation to have a good attitude about failing. One way is to teach them that FAIL stands for First Attempt in Learning. We can often learn from our mistakes we have the attitude that “I learned that this way does not work.” By helping students to learn that failing often leads to success, parents and teachers can strengthen families, communities, and nations.