The Lies of Failure
Why your Teachers were Wrong
When we are born, our parents expect us to fail. They know that every new thing we try to do will take us many attempts to master so they encourage us through each milestone, cheering us on along the way. They attempt to reduce our frustration and the pain of this process by showing us what successful walking, talking, bike riding, etc. looks like so we do not have to waste valuable time.
When we get to school however, things begin to change. We are taught that there are certain grades that are “good” and certain grades that are “bad” and that we should do everything possible to avoid the bad grades.. As we continued to progress our teachers reemphasized this point adding that a collection of these “bad grades” would lead us to fail a course resulting in us having to retake it. Since we outnumber them by >10:1 and they do not care about us in the same way that are parents do, they do not want to waste their time showing us something over and over. We are also taught that it is essential to stay on the same level as our peers and that we cannot progress at a faster or slower pace than they do otherwise we are a “loser” or a “smarty pants”.
I do not understand this attitude by teachers since several scientific discoveries, such as the clear plastic on the inside of your car windows and the colour mauve, were actually failed…
