Failure is not an option
For every action there is a consequence. Educators have a propensity to rely heavily on this sentiment, though I suspect most forget that they can help shape the consequence. If a child decides to not do their work (working at a middle-level campus I can assure you this never happens), most teachers begin a series of tiered consequences. Some try discipline sentences, others use time-out, others try lunch detentions, and many will call home. Each of these responses by the teacher has its own consequence and, whether intended or not, will only develop at most three reactions: 1) Shameful compliance 2) further rebellion leading to escalating punishments or 3) an attitude of “failure avoidance.”
Failure avoidance is the most destructive force in education today. We have baked it in to our students, some of whom then grow up to be teachers that use the same strategy on their students. Some of these teachers become administrators and use this strategy on their subordinates. Some become legislators and craft laws of the same spirit. We have created an entire culture that is terrified of failing.
Have we forgotten that failing provides some of the best learning opportunities? Have we forgotten that all great successes were preceded by tremendous failures? Babe Ruth had over 1,300 strikeouts. Hall of Fame legend Reggie Jackson had nearly double that figure. They failed and failed often. Education reform seems to be shaping up much in the same manner. Legislators, bureaucrats, businessmen, and think-tanks alike are all designing their various strategies under the premise of failure avoidance. Think about it this way: what happens if
Why We Paint Murals
I set up some butcher paper (though I am doubtful that anyone has actually slaughtered an animal in our staff lounge) on the wall and ask students to respond to my comment, “I’m going to miss this class.” I also set up a “class wall” where students can arbitrarily add their own comments. It’s a classroom extension of my Living Facebook experiment.
It’s primitive. Cave walls. Graven images. Simple, perhaps, but more complex in its simplicity. We are limited and yet, these limitations foster the creative impulse. Students not only write comments, but they also sketch pictures, change colors, alter hand-writing and draw arrows to comments. On Facebook, my wall is linear. In