How to Fail in College and Life In this article, Randall Beeman is trying to use reverse psychology in hopes that students who attend Bakersfield College will take it seriously and give their best efforts to succeed. In his article, Beeman lists the reasons why students fail in college, which also become the reasons people fail at life. He obtained this experience during his time of teaching at the colleges and universities. From his point of view, some of the reasons students failed were because some of them don’t like to read, others are more concerned with other non-productive activities such as partying and drinking. The final reason is students reinforce the idea that their self-esteem and TV time is far more important than studying.