{"id":2062,"date":"2012-09-04T11:43:56","date_gmt":"2012-09-04T16:43:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/steinvox.com\/?p=2062"},"modified":"2012-10-15T15:41:06","modified_gmt":"2012-10-15T20:41:06","slug":"education-is-broken-shame-vs-persevering-over-failure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/steinvox.com\/blog\/education-is-broken-shame-vs-persevering-over-failure\/","title":{"rendered":"Strengthen Perseverance In Time Of Failure, Never Teach Shame"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Failure<\/a>Recently, I wrote about New Firm Creation<\/a><\/em>, and suggested core university curriculum should include it for every student. That post exposed a breakdown much earlier in a student\u2019s education in our archaic industrial system. Pre-university education is unsuccessful in teaching all students about gut, and persevering over failure. Failure and perseverance are core to learning, innovation and general success. Instead we allow bullies to be the ones with gut, and those that fail, we shame and crush their spirit.<\/p>\n

We Teach Shame, Not Persevering Over Failure<\/h3>\n

Think back. You recall the clicks (groups), the popular people and the unpopular people, the geeks and the jocks. This polarization not only exists, it is propagated and even exalted many times by teachers and administrators.\u00a0 We laud winning, and frown on losing. There are awards for sports, for prom royalty, and so on \u2013 but no awards for failure, or learning through gut, failure and perseverance with the application of gut and perseverance to achieve a favorable outcome after many failures.<\/p>\n

We measure students based on performance, grades, aptitude IQ and other tests that force students into roles and learning paths that then become career paths. The current system stifles the natural human creative process that thrives on failure, getting back up, using our natural gut feel for trying again<\/span>.\u00a0 Instead, we tell kids that \u201cthey will get hurt\u201d or \u201cthey are not fast enough,\u201d or \u201cthey otherwise can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

No-hitter Anniversary<\/h3>\n

Today is the anniversary of Jim Abbott\u2019s<\/a> success as a New York Yankee when he pitched a no-hitter against Cleveland. Jim Abbott was born<\/a> without a right hand. His success is no fluke; he pitched for 4 major league teams in 10 seasons. How many kids in school today are told they can\u2019t, when otherwise they could have? If instead of shutting their enthusiasm down, they were taught to use their gut, learn from the cycle of failure and perseverance and never stop trying no matter how many times you have to try.<\/p>\n

The world just witnessed Oscar Pistorius<\/a>, a paraplegic, competing against Olympians without handicaps. To make the finals<\/a> was nothing short of miraculous. Even more, it is a testament to what a deep understanding of how gut, failure and perseverance can lead to success.<\/p>\n

Edison-level Perseverance<\/h3>\n

Ask yourself, why are there not more stories of inventors like Edison?\u00a0 I think it is because our education system structured to build industrial-revolution labor in society frowns on, shuns and even punishes people that fail, or are pre-perceived by teachers and administrators as being likely to fail.\"Failure<\/a><\/p>\n

What a terrible mistake for a civilized society. People that think differently, learn differently, and don\u2019t conform to physical standards, aptitude, IQ and standards based testing are pulled aside and ostracized. It\u2019s not hard to find cases where people that thought and learned differently were cut out, and punished. Helen Keller, Steven Hawking, Steve Jobs\u2026 and many others. All brilliant and either institutionalized, fired, isolated, or otherwise shamed as non-conformist.<\/p>\n

Steve Jobs, Thomas Edison, Helen Keller, Oscar Pistorius, and Jim Abbott know no shame in failure. They see failure and perseverance as the process to understand what it takes to succeed<\/span> and then to achieve it.<\/p>\n

How do we inject this critical element into our education system?<\/p>\n

To Be Clear<\/h3>\n

I\u2019m not suggesting that we need a world where everyone wins\u2026, that\u2019s not the answer either.\u00a0 There needs to be a first place<\/em>. However, there is a need for other ways of measuring aptitude, and instilling the process for learning from failure. What we have now is not learning from failure, but \u201cshaming\u201d those that fail in the process of learning. One bad test score leads to the next, and eventually, a bad ACT score shames a child into thinking he\u2019s not good enough to learn more and contribute to society. That is what we need to change in our education system.<\/p>\n

Imagine a World<\/h3>\n

Where would we be without the contributions of these great athletes and thinkers who learned through failure, gut and perseverance?\u00a0 You can easily recall others in the fields of science, medicine, business, and engineering \u2013 they are everywhere. Some questions to ponder:<\/p>\n