The Value of Failure

Upon reading that recent message from my inbox, I wanted to shout out “let your child fail.” The shouting was not due to frustration, rather to be sure that my voice was heard by many. And when I say fail, I mean fall. Let them fall. How can we learn to get back up if we never fall? Or if someone else always picks us up. Too often today, students are given every possible opportunity NOT to fail. But why? Why are we afraid of failure? Putting students in frustrating and uncomfortable situations is a tricky part of my job. I have to find that zone where students are frustrated enough to seek out a solution THEMSELVES. I hear this a lot, “Well I’ll just get my mom to help me.” There’s nothing wrong with phoning a friend or a mom. My message to parents, though, is to let your child fail. —Mr. Oldfield’s Math Class.