Pointless work.
‘The word failure should never be used in education.’ Discuss.
The word ‘failure’ gives one the feeling of incompetency, and the use of the word on any prideful human being would results in strong emotions within that human, that of resent over the aggressor. How the ‘victim’ uses these emotions to his advantage (or disadvantage), however, is entirely up to himself. Since the use of that word is double-edged, and the effects differ from person to person, can it really be said that the word ‘failure’ should never be used in education?
We think that the use of the word ‘failure’ at times serves as a reality check. For example, should Alastair be unable to pass his GP essay, he would be scolded by Mrs. Chng. Should Mrs. Chng use the word failure on Alastair, he would be forced to wake up from his dream state, because Mrs. Chng is his revered teacher and being scolded by her wrought a change in him—that would be to work harder for GP. In this instance, we can see that Alastair has changed positively because of he was chided by Mrs. Chng.
In this instance, we can see that Alastair has changed positively for Mrs. Chng after being scolded a failure by her.
However, let’s consider the case of Alastair being a prideful child. Mrs. Chng scolds Alastair, and his self-esteem took a blow. The use of that strong a word made Alastair withdrawn, and even less receptive towards GP, or any subjects in general. Can we say that the use of the word ‘failure’ was called for here?
If these two incidents are performed by the same teacher, and in the same manner, why is there such a profound difference between the impacts on the child at stake?
The answer is maturity. The use of the word ‘failure’ on a student who is emotionally unstable, or at least unreceptive, could possibly lead to a self-degradation of the student. Perhaps the student would give up on himself in the course of his study, while a more matured student would soldier on and think of it as nothing but incentive to work harder to not be looked down upon by the teacher, or not bother about that comment at all.
Derogatory terms should not be used against people who are less matured, as these comments could leave emotional scars which may take years to heal. However, such resolve-hardening words can be used against teenagers, as they are about to step into the working world, where the atmosphere is much harsher than schools, and where bosses rule their lives. The ability to tolerate humiliation is a virtue enviable of.
There is a case study done on the effects a teacher’s attitude towards students can bring about. In the experiment, the teacher was given 50 average students, and was told that they were academically brilliant. This same teacher was given another 50 students, who were academically brilliant, and was told that they were only average. After about a month, these 100 students were given a test, and the average score was about the same. This gives rise to the question—why is it that average students can do as well as people who were academically brilliant? The answer lies in the teacher. The teacher treated the average students like as if they were academically brilliant, and this in turn brought about a positive change within the students, and without having to scold them or use derogatory terms on them, they achieved better results than the class with academically brilliant students.
If such is the case, is there really a need for the use of such a strong word as ‘failure’?
We conclude that although the use of the word ‘failure’ may be justifiable, it should be used with discretion, and that it would be best to not be used at all, because it does not need to be used.
-- 4/29/2009 11:26:00 PM
