Failure Can Be A Good Thing

As any teacher will tell you, students are not allowed to fail. They have to leave school or college with some form of qualification. This would initially sound like a good thing, and sure enough, the powers that be believe that. The trouble is that the students know that they can't fail, and actually this is a very bad thing indeed.

So why allow children to fail?

Until someone experiences failure they can have little motivation to succeed. Many GCSE courses are modular or involve some form of coursework. There are pros and cons for this style of examination.

The Pros:
Not everyone is good at exams although they are quite capable at a subject.
Not everyone reacts positively to the pressure of exams, and therefore don't do themselves justice.

The Cons:
Teachers, friends or relatives can end up almost dictating a piece of coursework, because they know that if a child fails their course they will be blamed, despite the lack of effort on the part of the child.
Students pay little or no attention to what goes into their coursework, so although they have produced something, they have actually learnt nothing.

Added to this that colleges (and universities) are funded by the number of students they have on role, they will let people in with sub-standard qualifications, meaning that the student has to spend extra time (and get the college extra funding) retaking the exams they failed. There's no "well that's it - you've failed and can't do this" culture any more, which once experienced, will almost certainly drive young people to make sure that they don't fail again.

No-one likes the feeling of failure, and the "once bitten, twice shy" theory comes into play.

If teachers and schools were allowed to fail students in subjects that they deserve to fail in (I firmly believe in "you reap what you sow") then I am convinced that results would improve. All that happens at the moment is that students continually get extensions and have little motivation to hand in work because they know that their teacher will get something in for them.

I overheard colleague of mine phoning one of his students on the final posting day for coursework pleading for the child to bring in their project; a project they had completed I hasten to add. The child couldn't be bothered to bring it in.

If that student doesn't deserve to fail, then we might as well all give up.