People Don’t Fail, Methods Do
A friend of mine recently failed. An exam, that is.
But instead of seeing himself as a failure, he told me that he didn’t fail. He asserted that it was the method that he used to study that failed.
(I know that’s “deep” but he read that somewhere, Dr. John Tibane’s book I think.)
I thought that was a great way to perceive a nonfulfillment.
I then wondered, “What if we took that attitude towards failure a step further?”
After that, I imagined how much of an encouraging impact that that would have on learners if this choice of how one perceives failure was used in our schooling system.
Imagine if teachers gave marks to the students’ studying methods, not the students.
The good thing about such an approach, would be that when one has “failed,” the first thing to come to one’s mind would be, “How could I better the method that failed me, or better still, which method can I try next ?” — instead of feeling like a failure.
That would, in a way, also dramatically reduce the number of students who commit suicide after realizing that they’ve not made it. Ahem, apologies to undertakers.
Instead of looking for less hurtful ways to blame self, one would seek solutions.
(Over and above that, after one has “failed,” instead of giving up on one’s dream; one is likely to give up on the method that failed them. And then they will try again.)
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— October 6, 2010.