Once I took the time to get to know my students on a personal level, did I understand that the failure they have experienced has become their largest obstacle. I also realized that the perception of failure in the traditional school setting and most of society, teaches society that the amount of failure determines the amount of success. Many of my students strongly believe that there is no hope left. Thomas L. Friedman’s op-ed, piece, “How to Get a Job at Google” provided me with a sense of hope in our society. Friedman quotes Laszlo Bock, the senior vice president of people operations for Google, “Successful bright people rarely experience failure, and so they don’t learn how to learn from that failure” (Friedman). Along the same lines, I don’t believe my students and many, many others with similar situations realize that they can use their failures as learning opportunities and not an indication of their limits.
What would happen if more companies, as influential and powerful as Google, would start focusing on soft skills such as: leadership, humility, collaboration, adaptability and loving to learn and re-learn, as Google does, rather than on GPA and test scores? Could this encourage the educational system to follow suit? Could it create a new perspective on failure and provide hope for our students who struggle with issues that are beyond their control?
Brock sums it up perfectly, “Talent can come in so many different forms and be built in so many nontraditional ways today, hiring officers have to be alive to every one” (Friedman). I hope more educators begin being more “alive to every one.”
Resources
Friedman, T. (2014, February 22). "How to Get a Job at Google" The New York Times.