Dana Nguyen Ms. Newray ERWC, Period 5 August 28, 2015 Perez’s & Graff Articles Summaries In Perez’s article, Want To Get Into College? Learn to Fail [ Feb. 12, 2012], failure is the most significant, but hurtful step towards a successful life. If a person has never honestly dealt with failure, how can they possibly ever improve or move forward? It is important to learn and be able to solve problems in society, whether it is for academic or not.
In “Want To Get Into College? Learn to fail” (2012), Angel B. Pérez ,Vice President and Dean of Admission and Financial Aid at Pitzer College, argues that students are not okay with failing and are pressured to only show their success, Perez believes that this problem exist because teachers and parents taught them to only show their success and not to show their flaws. Perez supports his argument with his own personal experience .Perez supports his argument with “I wish I could tell you this is an uncommon story, but kids all over the world admit they are under tremendous pressure to be perfect,” (pg. 1 )
In life we tend to see failure as a terrible thing. When we do fail, most of the time we want to give up and see it as the end of the world. However there are few that see failure as an opportunity to do better and rethink the mistakes that were made in the past. Angela Duckworth, Emily Hanford, and CarolDweck all provide their research on how one can have highachievement e in life. Angela’s Duckworthresearch on grit proposes the idea that if someone stays persistence for a long time they can master something.
1a:“College is a singular opportunity to rummage through and luxuriate in ideas, to give your brain a vigorous workout and your soul a thorough investigation, to realize how very large the world is and to contemplate your desired place in it. And that’s being lost in the admissions mania, which sends the message that college is a sanctum to be breached — a border to be crossed — rather than a land to be inhabited and tilled for all that it’s worth. ”(Bruni 10) 1b: This passage, which is included in the final pages of Bruni’s introduction, helps define both his thoughts on the purpose of college and, at the same time, why he believes the rapidly increasing focus on college admissions is a problem.
This is where failure comes in. Sherry proclaims that we need to recognize that this fear of failure is a positive teaching tool. To make this tool work, teachers and parents need to accept that if the student doesn’t learn the material, they must follow through with their promises of flunking. Both teachers and parents have to realize that the future of the child is at stake, and only good intentions come from the
John Wooden once said “failure is not fatal but failure to change might be”(John Wooden Quote.) Wooden was addressing the idea that one only fails if they do not change after messing up. I never fully understood that principle until I attempted the FFA Creed Career Development Event. After not giving all that I could during the contest, I experienced the worst defeat of my FFA career. I had always thought that Wooden’s statement was only inspire those who had lost, but through personal failures I have learned otherwise.
Many individuals experience different amounts of failure in their lifetimes. Many learn and grow from their defeats and others let it keep them from succeeding. I made sure that failure was another obstacle to success. Icons like Randy moss didn’t let failure get the best of him when he didn’t make the freshman high school football team, and look at him now, he is one of the best Football players of all time.
In the article “Want To Get Into College? Learn To Fail” by Angel B. Perez the main idea was that colleges want to know the real you,the imperfect you not the just the great things you’ve accomplished over the year ,but also the failure you had to overcome. The reason why they want to know this is to see if you can overcome failing a class or two just to how you can you handle this, because life is not easy and healthy,family and money sometimes can get in the way of things but the goal is to make you succeed. Another thing I learned that I think is a main point is that parents are the ones pressuring their children to be perfect. So much that they didn 't want their child to take a risk in a class if there was a possibility for failure.
Going to college is probably one of the most important things that I have done in my life so far. Thinking back to everything I have done in the past ten years or so, I can see that taking to leap of faith to join college and further my education was such a huge step for me and I am glad that I did. Before I joined Southern New Hampshire University, I knew I would need some motivation to enroll. I remember a story my father told me about how he had gone to Technical College and became a licensed Master Mechanic and that really motivated me to want to further my education. Also, my brother had talked to me about two months ago and had told me his experience with going to college to earn his English degree and me, being the competitive brother I am, didn’t want him to be the only sibling to earn a degree.
In today’s society, many people choose to not work hard in school and become dropouts. But does their academic failure really define their personal value? Failure is not always a bad thing, we can always learn from our failures and prevent it from happening again. Many people have the same ideas and their work really inspired a lot of people. For example, the author Mary Sherry uses parallel structure and personal experiences in her essay “Praise of the F Word” to show that failing is not always a bad thing, and when I relate to my own failures, I felt the powerful mood within her essay.
A rising issue in today’s society is deciding whether or not college is worth the cost. There is an extreme amount of pressure that is forced upon high school students by parents, teachers, and peers to further their education and attend college. However, there is research that challenges the thought that college is the best possible path for a person to take. College may be a great investment for some people, but it is not meant for everyone. This is supported by the arguments that colleges are expensive, jobs do not always require a college degree, and students are forced to choose a lifestyle before being exposed to the real world.
Going to college for many students is just a normal part of life. It is what will enable them to get an education that eventually will lead to get a well-paid job and the resources and the status to live a comfortable life. But for college professor, Andrew Delbanco, the American college has a higher purpose. In the article “College at Risk”, Delbanco states that colleges should be promoting critical thinking among students, through knowledge of the past and the interaction with each other; as well as, help them discover their talents and passions and figure out what they want to do in life. This type of education is called liberal arts and for Delbanco, it represents the ideal education.
Students are taught perfection in school and assume that it is needed for college. This article has changed my views on college by showing me that it’s okay to fail or mess up. Angel B. Perez, Vice President and Dean of Admission and Financial Aid at Pitzer College, explains that finding imperfections in college applications is like “looking for a needle in a haystack”. He states that failure is applauded and cheers when he reads about “defeat and triumph”. Students strive for perfection to a point where it’s difficult for Perez to find any flaws.
Everyone knows that life is not easy all of the time, and everyone will make mistakes. Making mistakes is an inevitable part of being human. However, it is what you choose to do afterwards that matters. Successful people choose to leave it in the past, and to learn from it in the future. It is hard to be successful if all of the focus is on failure.
Angel B. Perez, published “Want to Go to College? Learn to Fail,” on February 1, 2012 claiming that failure will only lead to success and in order to be recognized by college recruiters you have to accept
