Afraid to Fail-Why Some Students Don’t Even Try.
On the subject of participation in the classroom, we’ve looked at how to encourage your child to raise his hand in class, and how participation in the classroom can improve grades.
We’ve also touched on how being shy can prohibit a child’s willingness to participate. But another big reason that accounts for an unwillingness to participate in class is a fear of failing.
It seems that there is a perception among students that if you are not 100% right, it is better to not try at all.
Which is understandable. After all school can be a very competitive environment. We live in a culture driven to achieve top grades. Parents, teachers, school boards, and even advertisers all preach the message that good grades are the key to success in life. It’s an all-pervasive message that surrounds everything that a student does. So it’s only natural then that a student who can’t compete at the A-level wouldn’t want to compete at all.
But the message that we should be sending to students is the only was to get the grades—to get ahead, to be on the winning team—is to TRY. Students need to forget the negative and focus on the positive.
We need to tell our students that it’s ok to have the wrong answer occasionally. Some of the greatest minds of our time had to fail several times before they were successful.
In his quest to find a route to India, Christopher Columbus found the Caribbean. He wasn’t the world’s best navigator, but the point here is that he tried. He didn’t give up.
Success comes from the attempt. It’s okay to be the student who puts his hand up to answer a question a hundred times and only be right once. It’s certainly better than never putting your hand up at all.
You’ve heard the saying that goes: if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again? It’s a good refrain to remember in life, and an even better one to remember in the classroom.
I believe that trying is the good way to achieve the goal ragardless that you might fail a few times before you get the goal.
That commercial that you are the listings channel – I live in Hamilton – has got the worst add I’ve ever seen in my life; that red-haired kid that goes about careers and post-secondary education – what were you thinking? He’s got to have the most irritating voice I’ve ever heard. If you want more business, you’ve got to get rid of that ad. I shudder every time I even think of that kid.
Commercial that you are the listings channel – I live in Hamilton – has got the worst add I’ve ever seen in my life; that red-haired kid that goes about careers and post-secondary education – what were y You’ve heard the saying that goes: if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again? It’s a good refrain to remember in life, and an even better one to remember in the classroom.
I love that commercial with the kidsin the boardroom-it’s kool! i like the red hair boy-he is super cute and super smart.
excuse me.. i have a question .. were having a research paper in our school project…and my topic is “why do students fail in class”,were can i find other links ??
Hi Emile, You might start by searching the Internet. Here is one “factors contributing student failure” http://www.google.ca/search?q=factors+contributing+student+failure&
WHY DO SOME STUDENT FAIL EXAMINATION AFTER ALL THE HARD WORK BEEN DONE TO PASS.
my question is why students afraid of mathematics?plz…. give me many reasons.
Can somebody answer me why does student afraid for examination?
I totally agree, I had the same problem at everything even in real life, it can be a bad teacher of life, anxious all the time, and still a second though can controll my behavior, the only positive in it, it’s the carefulness, and a dark negative – as you don’t try to preforme anything, you lose controll over your thoughs and appropriate “moving” abilities. That’s what i think…
Fear of failure is NOT the main reason students don’t try, although we are all guilty of this at some level. The main reason is POWER. Students, for whatever reason, feel that they can control their environment by not trying. Everybody tries — parents, teachers, counselors, grandparents, etc — but nobody can get them to try. I have adopted four kids and everyone has failed when they have reached high school – specifically freshman year. One has an IQ of 139. The lowest IQ in the bunch is 109.
I thought until now that they were lazy…that perhaps we spoiled them into thinking that good things will come their way despite their lack of effort to earn it. It dawned on me that they were taken away from their biological parents by the courts. They were put into our home – ages 2-6 – with strangers who told them what they could do and not do. With occasional childhood resistance, they would conform. But once old enough to think for themselves – combined with hormones, etc. – they have exercised their POWER to control their environment. I think this is a subconscious decision, but I also believe they are more aware of this factor than I realize.
I think all kids rebel for similar reasons. Some kids may smoke or drink or do drugs or skip classes or break traffic laws as forms of rebelling. We all tried to feel our freedom at that age. I think many young people rebel even more when authority clamps down. But refusing to try in school is one of the most severe methods of revenge. Authority goes nuts trying to change you — but they can’t. The child has all the power. And all the attention they get!!! OMG!!! I don’t know the answer. Maybe we should just say, “It’s your future,” and walk away. No punishment, no rewards, no comments, no focus whatsoever. Maybe if they feel they won their independence, they will use the power to do well.