Comments on: Failure is not an option http://www.joannejacobs.com/2009/05/failure-is-not-an-option/ Thinking and Linking by Joanne Jacobs Fri, 10 Feb 2012 04:51:22 +0000 hourly 1 By: Physics Teacher http://www.joannejacobs.com/2009/05/failure-is-not-an-option/#comment-46804 Physics Teacher Mon, 18 May 2009 10:02:24 +0000 http://joannejacobs.com/?p=9061#comment-46804 If you go a gym you'll notice that the musclebound folks lift till failure. The soccer mom with a teeny dumbell in one hand and a cellphone in the other consistently doesn't experience muscle failure. Who's succeeding here? We should never have allowed the educational ivory tower to define what success in school means. They've simply defined it as 100% (or almost). This admits almost no possibility of making mistakes or learning from them. The ed experts remind me of Nigel Tufnel of This is Spinal Tap fame. "This student student scored a 99%. This other student (in another school in another state) scored 87%. The first student is 12 SMARTER!" If you go a gym you’ll notice that the musclebound folks lift till failure. The soccer mom with a teeny dumbell in one hand and a cellphone in the other consistently doesn’t experience muscle failure. Who’s succeeding here?

We should never have allowed the educational ivory tower to define what success in school means. They’ve simply defined it as 100% (or almost). This admits almost no possibility of making mistakes or learning from them.

The ed experts remind me of Nigel Tufnel of This is Spinal Tap fame. “This student student scored a 99%. This other student (in another school in another state) scored 87%. The first student is 12 SMARTER!”

]]> By: Hube http://www.joannejacobs.com/2009/05/failure-is-not-an-option/#comment-46803 Hube Sun, 17 May 2009 15:19:28 +0000 http://joannejacobs.com/?p=9061#comment-46803 LOL ... this reminds me of what our school's "awards night" has devolved to: "awards" are given out to students who were, for example, office or teacher aides, or for mere participation in some extracurricular activity ... right alongside those with 4.0 GPAs and other [real] academic honors. LOL … this reminds me of what our school’s “awards night” has devolved to: “awards” are given out to students who were, for example, office or teacher aides, or for mere participation in some extracurricular activity … right alongside those with 4.0 GPAs and other [real] academic honors.

]]> By: Diana Senechal http://www.joannejacobs.com/2009/05/failure-is-not-an-option/#comment-46802 Diana Senechal Sun, 17 May 2009 15:07:16 +0000 http://joannejacobs.com/?p=9061#comment-46802 Brilliant. If failure is not an option, why don't we just get rid of it? Another bonus: with failure eliminated, there will be no need for excuses, so we will truly have a "no excuses" culture at last. Some have said that we learn from failure. But if we're all succeeding, why do we have to learn anyway? Brilliant. If failure is not an option, why don’t we just get rid of it?

Another bonus: with failure eliminated, there will be no need for excuses, so we will truly have a “no excuses” culture at last.

Some have said that we learn from failure. But if we’re all succeeding, why do we have to learn anyway?

]]>