One of the hardest things for a teacher to accept is that kids have the right to fail. That is, as autonomous beings, if they choose not to do any work, not to attend classes, not to write tests, they are choosing to fail. Although we will bend over backwards (in fact, we tend to quite dramatic back flip sessions!) in order to help our students succeed, we have to let them make their own decisions, and when their decision is clear, we have to accept that they have chosen to fail.
In elementary and middle school kids don’t ever really experience academic failure. Whether or not they have met the grade level learning outcomes, they get moved along with their peers while the skills spread out more and more. By the time the kids reach high school there can be a ten grade level span in reading or writing ability within a class room. Supports are there to allow a learning disabled kid to be successful. I had a young man who read at a grade 2 level successful in my Socials 8 class years ago. He had an amazing work ethic and was able to meet the learning outcomes. In the same class, kids reading two or three levels above their grade were choosing to fail. Why?
Almost always it is about exerting personal power: schoolwork is the one thing that they have complete control over, so in order to assert their autonomy over their parents or teachers (any authority will do), they refuse to cooperate and do their work. They think this will hurt the authority figures. It doesn’t. In high school, there is no going forward without earning the credit. The PASS is required by the Ministry of Education. It is something most have never faced before, and they’re often shocked to find themselves sitting in a classroom with kids a year younger than them because they didn’t pass the course the year before. If they remain insolent, they usually don’t pass the second time through, either. Generally, they make it through on the third try, because by then they’ve finally figured out that they are responsible for their own success, and they are the only ones who can solve their problem.
It is even more frustrating dealing with kids who don’t make that connection. They constantly get themselves in painful situations and although everyone else is watching and waving their arms frantically telling them not to do whatever it is- date the abusive guy, take the physics class when they barely passed non-academic math, go for a non-academic load when they should be preparing for university, they’re going the wrong way on a one way street, etc. Others see the road ahead and try to warn them, but the kid has blinders on and refuses to see the difficulties their decision will inevitably cause them.
A mom once told me what happened when her then 18 year old daughter arrived at a special alternate school for over-age kids to earn graduation credits. As she looked around the room at all the other kids she used to hang out with in the smoke pit, she observed, “We wanted to get out of high school, so we skipped out, but now we’re still in high school, and the others have graduated. I guess we weren’t as smart as we thought!”
The hardest thing is letting them go to make their own mistakes, because making mistakes is the best learning tool. Still, I wish more were like the admirable young lady who said, “I learn from watching other people’s mistakes.”
It’s kind of like the saying, “If you can’t be a shining example, at least be a dramatic warning…”
What do you think? Do you think kids have the right to fail? Why? Why not?
Shawn L. Bird 
true, kids do have their right to fail.
week 31 perfect poet award reminder,
let me know if you accept,
thanks a ton.
welcome to rally week 32.
Guess who ????
Hello Zakk.
Kids can choose to fail like everything else in life that comes down to a choice. We as adult must and should have the proper setting that encourages learning. The learning process must be different for each student; unique qualities helps promote the willingness to learn. That doesn’t mean kids will do the opposite but as a wise man once said, “If you present two glass of water to the masses, one is dirty, the other is clean. The masses will choose the clean water as long as they have a choice.”
Yes. There is a maturity that comes with experiencing logical consequences. If you skip class for a month, despite parental pressure and school admonitions, you’re going to fail. You probably have a reason for skipping, and that must be explored (bullying? love? addiction? sense of inadequacy? rebellion? fear?) but that doesn’t change that for each cause, there is an effect!