Reward failure and you remove incentive to improve. You institutionalize and guarantee failure

Failure is Essential

By Dr. Tim Ball Monday, June 15, 2009



Man learns little from success, but much from failure. Anonymous
A Disturbing Trend Becomes Pervasive

Support and even reward of failure by the current US administration is the culmination of a pattern begun several years ago under the guise of progress. It generally began in the school system when students were not allowed to fail and worse were pushed unprepared to a higher level.

By the time the student realized they were totally unprepared they were no longer in the education system. It is an ultimately destructive approach in contradiction with natural law.

Now the concept of ‘no failures’ has graduated to politics and is being imposed on society and business. It is a threat to the US maintaining and furthering its achievements. Instead of striving toward the highest standard the objective and the result becomes a decline to the lowest standard. Of course, there is a benefit for a government seeking control of society. People who have failed become dependent on the government. Those who succeed are reduced in numbers and marginalized. This group creates progress but pose a threat as the most likely to challenge the government.

Failure is normal and essential. The adage that man learns little from success but much from failure can’t work if you prevent or ignore failure. Rewarding failure also belittles success. Why obey the speed limit if others speed with impunity? Why work for reward when others get the rewards without working? If you also punish success then the process is even more debilitating.

Experience
Although a university professor, I knew education is a continuum and involved myself in the entire education process throughout my career. I served on and was President of a K --12 teachers organization eventually being honored with a lifetime membership. I counseled hundreds of students over the years and continue even now. I still give presentations in schools whenever possible. I gave the keynote address for the first Canadian Conference on Agriculture in the Classroom in 1982 and remained involved until recently. I was also active with 4H, a parallel but valuable life skills educator outside of the formal education system.

I watched more and more students come into university simply unprepared. A measure of the problems was the proliferation of remedial skills courses and probationary courses required before assigning regular student status in colleges and universities.

Employers increasingly complained about poor skills among graduating students. (Here and here.)

Approximately 10 emails a month from students doing classroom projects provide me with a crude measure of poor language skills.

Not allowing failure became a prevailing philosophy in our schools several years ago. Judi McLeod, editor of CFP, told me about covering the North York Board of Education as Education reporter for the Toronto Sun when they “came up with something they called “fail proofâ€