“We have a system that is setup to prevent students from failing. We need to change that.”
This was a section we left out of Transforming the Heart for a few reasons – primarily we’re saving it for another book.
No, it’s not a throwback to an era of “golden” past. It’s a call to re-think how we view the potential of our students.
Our current education system is setup so our students can succeed, which is a good thing. But has our drive for success prevented us from allowing students to take big risks?
Let’s forget the failure memes of the Internet that say we need to fail so many times before we an be successful. Nobody actually likes failing at anything, even if they learn something great from it.
Instead, we should be setting the bar much higher.
Put the onus on students to succeed at a daunting task, giving them every resource to do so, and they will rise to meet your expectations.
An example:
In Transforming the Heart, Chris talked about getting students to setup a Mass all on their own. This was a huge deal for many of them, especially since the majority never go to church. However, they rose to the occasion and became the “Mass team” for the entire year. In the end, they were looked at as the experts and a weekly Mass became a staple of the school.
Keep in mind he didn’t hand pick the students, but instead asked a random class.
The key wasn’t to throw everything at them at once, but rather, give them bits and pieces to experience what a Mass should look like and then leave them on their own.
Another example comes from a social studies class where the teacher, every year, does a lesson on the importance of government. He sets it up by telling students they are going to have a breakfast, but the students are responsible for bringing everything.
The catch is when he says everything, he means everything. Students might not think to bring the hot plate to cook food, cooking utensils, serving platters – all the little details we take for granted in our own kitchens. With the exception of a few years where the students brought everything, they learn a powerful lesson when it doesn’t go well.
The point is to stop playing it safe because safe is the new risky.
What worked yesterday is not going to work tomorrow. We are preparing students for careers that don’t exist yet to solve problems we don’t even know about.
Setting them up to meet that reality will put them ahead. They’ll go seeking opportunities and won’t be afraid to take on challenges that seem insurmountable.
Your goal for setting up for “failure” is to teach your students collaboration, thoughtfulness, research skills and everything else we try to get them to learn…
without the carrot of marks.