Success vs. Failure

In our DigCit class this week, we had a discussion about success and failure in school and in life. I always grew up thinking that if you failed something, that was the worst thing that could happen to you. I wasn't looking at it as a way to improve, I looked at it as a sign of my inferiority. As I got older, I learned that you need to fail in order to succeed. This has been my mindset for the better portion of my life. I am only now starting to realize what being a failure really means. I always thought that being a failure means that you did not do something or not being the best at something. I'm now realizing that what I previously thought to be failure behavior is only me improving. My definition of a failure has changed as well. A failure to me used to be someone who could not do the work. A failure to me now is someone who doesn't want to do the work. The discussion we had in class has opened my eyes to the reality that is success and failure. My definition of success has also changed. A successful person to me used to be someone who did everything right. A successful person to me now is someone who does their work. With the combination of these two new definitions of mine, I am able to feel better about myself and my work rather than only doing the minimum or not doing the work at all.

We also discussed how some schools are starting to use the grade "not yet." Contrary to number grades, this grade would be use if the teachers didn't feel like the students couldn't do the work, but rather for the students to realize that they are capable of doing and completing the work. I feel that this "not yet" grade could motivate kids to try their best and not just their minimum effort. This has inspired me to try my hardest whether or not I have the "not yet" grade in my school. I am now going to treat every grade as a way for me to improve rather than just another grade. When someone says you are successful in school, I think of someone who does their work and gets good grades. I now realize that the true successful people are those who understand their work, try to do everything, and learn from their mistakes. Whenever I heard of a failure in school, I thought of someone with bad grades. I now realize that the true failures in school are those who don't do their work purposely.

Overall, I feel that this week has given my a clearer picture of what a failure and a successful person is. I learned that grades shouldn't be a reflection on a person's intelligence and that someone could have bad grades and be very successful. From this experience, I can now feel better about myself as a person rather than a student.