Educators Urged to Allow Their Students to Fail
see the article from The huffington post
This is the email I received posted by Theodore Panitz:
Hi All,
I came across this article which I thought would make for some interesting summer reading and perhaps discussion. Especially in light of the recent emphasis on student retention and success. The article sums up the true nature of success in college, in a more articulate fashion than I ever could provide and in a very simple and direct thesis which also applies to how people succeed in life.
I was attracted to this article because my experiences bear the speaker out. I have never had a student fail any of my classes in my entire career when they have made a good effort! Some students need to make a very strong effort and a few a herculean effort to pass algebra, but when they have made the effort they succeeded. This might include extra help from me or the tutoring available, working with a special support group, getting advising from faculty and staff, to name a few areas of support for students. But the bottom line still remains that success depends upon the student effort.
My questions might be then
1.how do we convince our students that this is the case and
2. can we really motivate them to make the effort if they are not self motivated?
Any thoughts? (That might require too much of an effort to reply... ha ha)
Regards,
Ted
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