Failure

I work in education and I am seeing a terrible tragedy being setup for our children.  Educators are not allowed to flunk children.  Last year I substitute taught in a class.  One of the students was failing.  She came to class 9 times in 9 weeks.  I was reprimanded for not putting forth more effort to help this student succeed.  The dictate is you must leave no child behind and pass them on any way because failure is not allowed.  Then they become adults and the Peter principle kicks in...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_principle

An illustration visualizing the Peter principle

The Peter principle is a concept in management theory formulated by Laurence J. Peter and published in 1969. The theory is that the selection of a candidate for a position is based on the candidate's performance in their current role, rather than on abilities relevant to the intended role. Thus, employees only stop being promoted once they can no longer perform effectively, and "managers rise to the level of their incompetence."



No where along the way does anyone teach how to cope with failure.  I believe the Sophomore year of high school after one semester learning about health they need one semester of mental health and coping skills. They teach geometry but not how to set boundaries.  They teach proper grammar but not how to speak kindly.  The biggest drawback is finding a teacher that isn't in need of mental health lessons for themselves.  Some people proclaim that parents should teach this....that would be great if the parents are emotionally healthy.  Sadly in our never ending race to succeed and failure is not acceptable we are raising a generation that has no idea how to cope when their world falls apart. I was blessed with a counselor that patiently taught me that failure does not define me.  My reaction to failure does.