Failure - Not an Option (?)

It’s the age-old debate: As educators, do we have a responsibility to ensure that students pass a class, no matter what, or is there value/a lesson to be learned in failure - supposedly the greatest teacher (or so a little green Jedi Master once told me).

We had a saying at Seven Ranges Scout Reservation, referring to the Camp Honors program: “Failure is often a better teacher than recognition easily come by.”

But is that true? And is earning an honor different than meeting a basic requirement?

What if failure is only an effective teacher for those who are motivated to see failure as a teacher?

In an education utopia, I think we might be well-served by adopting the mindset that failure is not an option, while working to build resilience, grit, and a sense of true accomplishment in students, thus ensuring that we do not create learned helplessness in them.

For example, one legitimate educator concern in offering quiz and test retakes (a research-based best practice) is that students game the system by purposefully blowing off the first attempt, knowing that a retake is available. One Edutopia blog post suggests a strategy of partial credit, requiring relearning to be eligible for the retake, and more. I think this is on the right track - allow retakes, but mandate learning, effort, and the building of skills. Don’t let a student fail, but don’t automatically give everyone a trophy in the process. Remember, in a traditional percentage-based grading system (a whole other debate), students typically have 59 ways to fail and only 41 ways to pass. Don’t we have an obligation to provide them with a pathway to success instead of just leaving them to their own devices?

Recently, I was sitting in a meeting and we were talking with a student and his mother about the usual things: grades, progress, motivation, future plans, etc. As a positive, I noted his “B” in a particular class. What the student said next was perhaps the greatest compliment a teacher could ever receive. The student said, “Mr. Doe* wouldn’t let me fail.” I e-mailed the teacher right then and there to let him know what the student had said, because we don’t always take the time to recognize these important, small, daily victories that come together to change lives. Relationships and behavior modeling are powerful forces in the classroom, and for this student, that made all the difference - as did the teacher’s policy of conducting assessments almost exclusively of the short-cycle formative variety and combining retakes with targeted academic coaching.

What do you think? Is failure the best teacher, or is it more complicated than that? Have you experienced a moment where you know you made the difference between success and failure for a student?

*My posts will always contain pseudonyms.