New Threats to Freedom Essay Contest Response
“I am a failure.”
Aprylle Deasey
Let’s imagine I went around to all the students in my organic chemistry class one afternoon after we got our test number two back. Just listening into their conversations, you hear the “Oh shits,” the “Oh my God I did awfuls,” the “I don’t want to look at its,” and most horrendously the “I’m a failure.” For a lot of people, a sophomore organic chemistry class was that first time when they realized they weren’t as smart as they were told.
Michael Goodwin discusses the problem of social promotion in his video response to New Threats to Freedom. Social promotion is described as there being no way for students to be able to fail. Classes and tests are “dumb-ed” down, high school diplomas are given out to people just to keep them moving on with everyone else. This is a danger to society. In reality, people can’t “dance through life” (to quote the musical Wicked) and expect to earn something that is worthwhile and meaningful in the world. A college classroom is the first harsh slap in the face and many students won’t be able to find themselves up to the pressure. I agree with Mr. Goodwin on this problem. How can children be expected to grow up and fully confront the pressures of society if they are sheltered from being able to fail at a young age?
Evolving from this social promotion is that stigma that is associated with failure. I can see it written on everyone’s face day in and day out. One of my worst fears is to fail a class, or fail a test. I’m dreading getting my organic test back because I’m almost positive I failed it. People break down, some people are driven to do harmful things to themselves; others are driven to depression. No one wants to fail because we all fear it. We have no more freedom to fail at something because we will not accept it. I think this is the worst consequence for losing this freedom. A society that is so riveted on perfection and success can list their number one fear as failing at something. From a humanitarian point of view, I find this incredibly disturbing. A minority would list fear of losing someone they love, or natural disasters, or getting into an accident. When did priorities suddenly shift in the world?
I think we have to re-install that it is ok to make mistakes. Mistakes are how you grow, how you learn, and how you accept life. Right now, all we try to do is change the world; change our circumstances to fit who we are right now. The world will get stuck into a rut because there is only so much we can do as ambitious individuals. Eventually there will have to be times for failure because we have to grow. God did not intend us to be perfect, so we shouldn’t try to attain it. We’re only human.