On Campus, Failure Is on the Syllabus

Corinthian
Sat, 24 Jun 2017 20:34:28 +0000

The article makes the point that it’s not just the kids of helicopter parents that fear failure but also kids from marginalized backgrounds who feel a weighty obligation to family and community back home to succeed. I think it’s great that more colleges are trying to send the message that it’s okay to struggle, okay to fail. I know my older D has a tendency to “catastrophize” when she first encounters a setback and jump to the conclusion that all is lost, she will never get into graduate school or get a job, etc. She works her way through it eventually but I do feel bad that she seems to have picked up the message that college is a high stakes make-or-break experience. And I’m sorry for whatever role we parents unintentionally played in that. I also think the high cost of college contributes to students’ anxiety and the feeling that it’s so high stakes.