Holly Korbey's Essay: Article Analysis

James Bryant Conant once said, “Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out.” As easy as it is to tell people to “stick their necks out”, the article “What Do Students Lose by Being Perfect? Valuable Failure” by Holly Korbey, talks about the difficulties students face learning to accept failures, and suggests possible ways to help students overcome these difficulties. As I read the article, I found myself contemplating the ideas Korbey was trying to encourage and the solutions she was proposing. While I agree with most of the article, I disagree with some passages and find some ideas harder to accept. It is true that fear of failure is driving students to “sacrifice our love of learning” at the “altar of achievement”

Growing up in an environment that is so fiercely competitive about academics has taught me that failure is not an option. From as early as elementary school, I was vastly concerned with grades; more so than with learning. Like Korbey says, this fear and terror that I carry stops me from taking risks. In school, we are taught to follow rigid algorithms to ensure the best grades. We learn that sometimes getting a good grade is not about expressing our own opinions, and is instead about expressing thoughts that a teacher would want to hear. As a result, we sacrifice our creativity and constrain ourselves in order to succeed, and lose our natural love of learning in the process. Someday, I hope to learn to ignore failure and to grow from it rather than allowing it to limit

It is the meaning of success that drives fear into students. Even if parents were to hand over responsibility and give students more freedom, we would still fear failure. I, and most people I know, define success as a good college and a six-digit income. To succeed, I cannot fail, because to fail even a single little quiz takes me farther away from college and from success. Everything we do in school, everything our parents want, has to do with this success. Perhaps to squash down my fear of failure, I should redefine my definition of success. If all I needed to succeed was my health and my happiness, I would not fear failure, or competition, as much. But I also realize that my beliefs are so much a part of me that to redefine success will take a long