British educators are actually considering replacing the word “failure” with deferred success. As they say, WTF? Apparently those stiff upper lip blokes are worried that telling a child he/she has failed will put them off of learning forever. I’m sorry, but you can call it Great-aunt Sophia if you want to, but failure is failure. Kids know when they are not doing well in school. And if failure is really ony delayed success, every grade becomes success of some kind, so why bother to put yourself out. Instead of focusing on what words make students demoralized, how about focusing on what actions make kids succeed–real success, not the deferred kind.
In order for students to flourish they need three things:
1-a family (nuclear and extended that places education as a priority, where adults at home read and place value on real achievement.
2-a school that is dedicated to student success. That’s not as easy as it sounds these days. As there is more and more talk of teacher accountability, there is also less and less teacher creativity allowed. In New York city where I teach, we’ve been inundated with programs for math, phonics, reading or whatever that require no more effort to teach (as mandated) than it does to read the script that comes with the program. We must all be on the same page, they tell us. As proof that this works, Joel Klein (the school chancellor) and our beloved Mayor (Bloomberg) claim elevated test scores as proof these programs work. Not! Almost every teacher I now gives lip service to these new programs and keeps her door shut. What teachers end up doing on grades in which students have to take standardized tests is to spend most of the year teaching to that test so that students won’t be penalized for not doing well–as in getting left back.
3-an innate desire to learn. I think all children are born with natural curiosity, but 1 and 2 listed above, as well as the larger society help to squelch that. In many people’s view it is more important to send a child to school in the latest FUBU than it is to send them with a couple of pencils and some crayons. I have children come to school and the first book they own is one given to them by me. Parents, especially young ones, don’t realize that if your child comes to kindergarten and doesn’t know letters, numbers, shapes, colors, days of the week, they will have to play catch up with the other kids from the get-go. By the same token, teachers have to take kids where they’re at and work at boosting them up to where they belong rather than complaining they’re not where they are supposed to be.
Most of all, it’s not any individual failure that is detrimental to kids, it is the feeling that they can’t succeed at anything that is the problem. Calling failure success only cheapens the real achievements kids make.
Well, I’m off the soapbox now. What do you think???
I agree with you Dee–softening up the words for “failure” is hurting, rather than helping those children–they need to know that any true success takes WORK!! And when they put forth an effort to learn, things will improve. I’m so tired of everyone trying to make things so easy for this generation–all it’s doing is making them lazy and complacent!! Just my two cents on the subject!!
I’m with you also Dee. This reminds me of when my youngest was in pre-school. They had no board games, so I took some in because my children love them. When I got there the instructors said that the children could play, but we’d have to devise a different way of playing so none of the children would lose. They didn’t want to hurt the children’s self esteem. Sheeesh.
Anyway, my favorite saying is:
The only difference between one who succeeds and one who fails is the one who succeeded never gave up.
Shoot, these folks are teaching the kids not to even try. Heck, it’s not like they have to worry about “failing.”
Peace
Deatri