One
of the key problems with education in the United States at the turn of the 21
st
century is the increased focus on self-esteem as a driver of student
performance without objective justification for the merits of such paradigm.
It had been correctly assumed as late as the
early 1990s that self-esteem was related to better exam results, but the
correlation between them was misinterpreted.
Students were made to feel good about themselves with the hopes that
this would help them excel.
It
was discovered much later that the correlation, in fact, works in reverse. While students should be encouraged to excel,
artificially lowering the bar meant that they lost motivation to learn. Moreover, denying children the learning
experience gained from accepting failure curtailed development toward success.
Handled
correctly, failure can be used as a catalyst for future success.
Professionals such as Dr. Martin Seligman
suggest that failure, if treated as isolated events that have specific causes,
would encourage children to learn behaviors that would instead lead to success.
By treating failure not as something to be
avoided but as a welcome challenge for further learning, students could top
their current performance and be motivated to improve.
As
life is nothing without failure, children should learn to accept and learn from
their mistakes as they grow and earn their sense of self-worth through their
successes and through the failures they overcome.
Ken Von Kohorn is a Connecticut-based nonfiction sociopolitical writer who is deeply invested in the success and welfare of children. Visit this Twitter page for more updates on literature, education, and more.
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