“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
-Sir Winston S. Churchill, former prime minister of The United Kingdom
Jane was crying bitterly. She could not accept her result of the first test of Class 4. She had failed in English. What will Papa say? How will others take it? How about all the friends? They will make so much fun. Questions kept coming and tears were not stopping.
Her mother, Ruth, entered the room. Ruth knew that it was a bad shock for her daughter. She was a sincere girl. This was the first time that she had shown such a bad result. Her elder brother, Henry was a genius. He tried never to rank second in the class and would often score the highest in all the sections. Ruth could empathize with Jane. Her husband, Jack was different. He was a go-getter and had worked very hard for his success. He expected the same with his children too.
Ruth first made Jane comfortable. She gave her a glass of milk and her favorite burger. She did not talk about the result at all. This put Jane at ease. She sent her to play and told her not to talk to anybody about the results with anybody. Jane came back after half an hour. She was more composed now.
Now Ruth took it upon herself to console her. She told her, “Jane, listen, this test was not the last for you. There are plenty of the opportunities ahead. You can still prove your mettle in the next tests.”
She made her sit down to study and not worry about her result anymore. Then, she analyzed the reasons for her failure. It was difficult for her also to understand, first. Jane studied in a good school. Her teacher was good. Ruth and Jack used to help her at times. Then, why did she fail?
As she kept thinking, the things became clearer to her. She made plans to help Jane go ahead in life and never to face such a situation again. She talked to her class teacher also for analyzing the reasons.
Nobody will scold Jane for the results
She decided to tell Jack also not to scold Jane about the result. This could not be changed now. Any show of anger would do nothing but to push her in a mental corner from where it would be very difficult to bring her out. It would simply result in even poorer performance in future. The approach needed to be supportive. It was the best to look ahead for improvement.
There is always a next time
Ruth kept telling Jane not to hang her head in shame. Successes and failures are all part of life. A person has to be strong enough to face the failures with a smile. However, determination to win needs to be there all the time. This has, of course, to be followed with a well-thought-of plan and its proper execution. The best way was to tell her that falling is acceptable but not rising again is not.
No comparisons
Was there any point in making comparisons with Henry or any other child? It would only compound her problems. Could Henry match her dancing or drawing skills? Every child is different. There was no point in making comparisons and demoralizing her even further.
Did she understand her subject?
Jane did not like the languages as a subject. She had her problems in understanding grammatical rules and did not have good vocabulary. She hardly gave this subject any time. She had been a shy girl. It was difficult to know if she got a proper grasp of her lessons. Sometimes, the children think that they have understood but that is temporary because they do not understand the concept properly. The conceptual understanding of the subject is a must. It not only helps the child at that level but in the future too.
Was she properly planned?
Jane was not regular in her study schedule also. Ruth observed that she studied too much at times or too less sometimes. So Ruth decided to make a daily plan for her to have a happy balance of studies, games, dances and school work. She decided to ensure that Jane would follow it sincerely too.
Did she have enough energy?
Energy keeps one going with vigour in daily routine. Jane was a frugal eater and used to get tired easily. Ruth made her exercise schedule with proper dosage of milk, balanced food and her favourite fruits too.
How was she preparing for the next tests?
Ruth made sure that Jane was ready with her schedule and also followed them regularly. She took good care to check that Jane had the conceptual clarity and was asking questions in the class. She analysed that Jane was writing either too long or too short answers. Both of these were wrong practices. She also made sure that Jane gave proper time to all the subjects.
Let them own their failure/ mistakes
Although Ruth ensured that Jane understood the shortcomings that led to the failure without putting any blame. Ruth praised her for good scores in other subjects. She explained her the grammatical principles and firmed up her vocabulary.
Conclusion
Ruth made sure that Jane did her best in following all the above mentioned tips and the result was before everybody to see. In the next tests, Jane had ranked not only first in her class but also improved considerably in English. She was beaming from ear to ear and so was Ruth who supported her morally for this big victory.
Failure gives a chance to start once again, in life. Success does not come every time to everybody. We can learn from the example of Steve Jobs. He had created Apple Inc. from where he got fired at the age of 30. He did not lose his motivation and created other companies. Eventually he came back to Apple Inc. as its CEO.
Therefore, failure is part of the game. There is no team in the world of sports which has won all its matches. No athlete has won all of his or her races. We fail only when we stop trying or when we refuse to get up to fight again after falling down.
https://www.mathgenie.com/blog/your-child-failed-now-what
https://everydaypower.com/success-comes-after-failure/
R. C. Verma
The author has written this article is to motivate the students for overcoming failure in life.
The author's blog Education2020 has been selected by Feedspot.com among the top-ranking
Indian Education blogs. The following link can take you to the site where it has been announced. I am thankful to Mr. Anuj Aggarwal and his company for recognizing the hard work that has gone in making this blog and writing the articles.
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