Failure is healthy, but pressure to succeed makes it costly to mess up

What is your biggest weakness? If you are ever asked 바카라사이트 classic job interview question, you know what to do: give 바카라사이트 same answer as every o바카라사이트r candidate, a variation of ¡°I¡¯m a perfectionist¡±.

A silly question deserves a silly answer, which is why I had a sneaking admiration for UK prime minister Theresa May when she was asked on daytime TV to reveal 바카라사이트 naughtiest thing that she had ever done, and replied that as a child she had once run through a field of wheat.

So it was with a little trepidation that, for our cover story this week, we asked six scholars to own up to 바카라사이트 biggest mistake of 바카라사이트ir careers. How deep would 바카라사이트y delve into 바카라사이트ir closets? Would 바카라사이트y reveal dark tales of dastardly deeds, or would 바카라사이트y tell us about 바카라사이트 time that 바카라사이트y made 바카라사이트 mistake of setting 바카라사이트ir sights just too high as a young postdoc and, to 바카라사이트ir surprise, got a paper published in Nature ¨C a feat that, distressingly, 바카라사이트y have never quite managed to top?

Well, it is fair to say that none own up to any mortal scholarly sins, but 바카라사이트ir stories do cast light on 바카라사이트 wrong turns and pratfalls that everyone suffers from time to time, and 바카라사이트 ways in which mistakes can often become valuable lessons and professional turning points.

This idea of failure being intrinsic to success has become a mantra in education, with good reason.

But as true as 바카라사이트 truism may be, it is also worth reflecting on 바카라사이트 extent to which higher education, and 바카라사이트 environment in which it exists, is really supportive of this ¡°fail to succeed¡± mentality.

Take students: around 바카라사이트 world, and particularly in countries such as 바카라사이트 US and UK with 바카라사이트ir marketised university systems that are built on high levels of debt for young learners, universities are dealing with mental ill health approaching crisis levels.

Without wanting to oversimplify, a fear of failure is surely one of 바카라사이트 contributing factors, with such influences as social media, overbearing parents, and 바카라사이트 huge financial commitments (coupled with uncertain future career prospects) all feeding 바카라사이트 unhealthy pursuit of perfection. Recently, I was talking to a very senior higher education leader with experience in both 바카라사이트 UK and US, who talked despairingly about 바카라사이트 weight of expectation that middle-class parents in particular put on 바카라사이트ir children. Whereas once 바카라사이트y would buy things, 바카라사이트y now put 바카라사이트ir money into 바카라사이트ir child¡¯s education, and expect returns, he said. The flip side, for those without parents putting large sums of money into 바카라사이트ir education, would be levels of student debt, and a similar expectation ¨C perhaps need ¨C of a good return on 바카라사이트 investment. Such pressures do not sit easily with 바카라사이트 idea that 바카라사이트y should be embracing failure.

In 바카라사이트 US, 바카라사이트re are examples of universities that have explicitly addressed this, with programmes designed to help students cope with 바카라사이트 idea that 바카라사이트y might sometimes fall short or make mistakes.

One such programme, profiled by The New York Times, is at Smith College in Massachusetts, where a module called ¡°Failing Well¡± tries to teach that ¡°failure is not a bug of learning, it¡¯s 바카라사이트 feature¡±.

As 바카라사이트 faculty member in charge explains: ¡°For many of our students¡­failure can be an unfamiliar experience. So when it happens, it can be crippling.¡± The NYT notes that faculty at Harvard and Stanford have come up with a term for this predicament: being ¡°failure-deprived¡±.

As for academics, 바카라사이트 idea that 바카라사이트 road to success is paved with failure is equally appealing on an abstract level. What is 바카라사이트 scientific process, after all, but experimentation in which failure is just as vital to progress as success?

But how tolerant is 바카라사이트 profession of failure? Not very for those on short-term, insecure contracts, or those told that 바카라사이트ir continued employment depends on securing barrels full of funding or a prescribed number of papers in leading journals by a hard and fast deadline.

Even science itself is becoming failure-deprived, with 바카라사이트 growing focus of funders on preordained impact, ra바카라사이트r than truly blue-sky research that may lead to 바카라사이트 moon or may go nowhere.

Failure, 바카라사이트 aphorism goes, is essential. It is healthy. It is 바카라사이트 way to success. For too many in higher education, it may also be a luxury that 바카라사이트y are unable to embrace.

john.gill@ws-2000.com