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In Education: Failing forward toward success

‘Merely a stepping stone which strengthens.’
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David Wang is a student at Garibaldi secondary.

It seems that all too often, the merits of life are judged based off of one’s successes and failures.

We are taught at an early age that our goal is to succeed at what we do. Naturally, since failure is the antithesis of success, we are told not to fail.

While there are no inherent drawbacks from praising the idea of success, there can be impediments related to the misconception that failure destroys our goals and ends our dreams.

In life, there are countless lessons that are learned: some through education and some through sweat and blood. The honest truth is that no one in life is perfect. We experience success and we experience failure, but one cannot exist without the other.

From my experiences, younger teens are often affected the most by failure. Some of us are told that success is pertinent, and so we tend to associate any failure with total failure.

Growing up with an ‘Asian tiger mom,’ I was more or less expected to excel at school and other extracurricular activities, and so when I inevitable fell short, one way or another, it felt crushing.

Due to the misconception that failure is undesirable, people often practice to succeed and almost never practice to fail. Thus, for teens who are inexperienced in failing, when faced with such an obstacle it may seem almost insurmountable.

What I wish I could have learned earlier is that failure is not equivalent to defeat, but merely a stepping stone which strengthens our abilities and allow us to improve.

Had I known this in fifth grade, I wouldn’t have balled my eyes out for a solid week after failing a spelling quiz.

It’s important to remember that failures are a learning curve for us to realize our weaknesses and develop our abilities since in every scenario there’s an underlying mishap which contributes to failure.

Perhaps failure arises due to a lack of preparedness or it could be attributed to anxiety and emotional instability, but whatever the cause, as long as it can be identified, there can be a solution the issue.

However, an issue that can arise along the way is ignoring the effects of our failures as this can result in our committing the same errors. Consequently, true failure is not heeding the lessons learned from our mistakes and failing to adapt.

All-in-all, rather than seeing success as ‘good’ and failure as ‘bad,’ it may be in our best interest to see them as two sides of the same coin.

While success is something we should all strive to obtain, we shouldn’t be fixated on it to an unwholesome extent. There also needs to be an acceptance of our failures and use them to move forward in life to fulfill our goals.

Knowing this fact, there won’t be a thing in this world that can prevent us from reaching our goals.

I will conclude by reiterating the words of C.S. Lewis, one of my favorite authors: “Failures, repeated failures, are finger posts on the road to achievement. One fails forward toward success.

David Wang is a student at Garibaldi secondary.