Failure and defeat are typically seen as the end or an embarrassment. However, to learn from one’s mistakes is the ultimate triumph! To rise up from the ashes like a Phoenix is a concept that goes back to early Greek mythology. The famous inventor, Thomas Edison, in reference to his many experiments developing the filament of a lightbulb, famously said, "I have not failed. I have just found 10,000 ways that will not work.”

By contrast, “Failure is not an option,” are the immortal words attributed to NASA Flight Director, Gene Kranz, when working with his team on how best to safely return the flight crew to Earth during the aborted Apollo 13 Moon landing mission. Many motivational speakers have used this quote as a foundational approach to coaching people and organizations on the “positives” of failing. In fact, in 2017, Gatorade launched an advertising campaign series that asserted that failure can fuel growth and that every athlete experiences losses during their career. In one of the Gatorade commercials, several professional athletes shared one of their negative experiences but the commercial ends with Michael Jordan, one of the best basketball players in history, asking, “You really want to know the secret to victory?” To which Atlanta Falcons football quarterback, Matt Ryan, responds, “Defeat!”

Failure, in fact, is part of the success formula. As my great-nieces and -nephews learn to crawl and walk, they are not afraid to take chances and they are certainly not reprimanded for making a mistake and falling. In fact, it is quite the opposite - they are actually praised for taking a risk no matter how many times they fall down. This encouragement is part of the development process. It is no different for students in school. Teachers push students to learn new material and take chances. In Montville Township Public Schools (MTPS), students and teachers are encouraged to “Fail Forward.”

Educate. Inspire. Empower. That is the MTPS motto. Learning foundational tools, exploring exciting topics of interest, and having the courage to take risks to discover what does – or perhaps does not – work…. That is Education. That is Inspiration. That is Empowerment.

A person’s life-long education and self-worth is not measured by grades. Yes, we need grades in different subjects to measure a student’s progress and colleges like grades and GPAs (grade point averages) to be able to make acceptance decisions, but a student’s education is truly measured by what they’ve learned. What a student does with that wisdom, courage, and inspiration, particularly to help others, is most important.

To ensure a student learned a concept, teachers will often allow students to try again if the concept was not understood the first time. In writing-intensive classes, such as history or English, students will go through multiple rewrites before the finished project is handed in. Not many people get it “right” on the first try and everyone learns at a different pace. It is through grappling with a science equation, adversity on the playing field, not quite hitting the right note in music, or struggling to memorize an actor’s lines that a student finally “learns” and achieves success. So “failure” is a necessary part of the learning process.

My nephew Steve, a dredge boat captain along the Jersey Shore, lives by the adage, “Smooth seas never made a skilled sailor.” It is the drive to be the best skilled captain that pushes him to accept the challenges of the sea, complete the task at hand, and keep his crew safe. The same can be said of many other professions, as well as a student’s journey through school.

In 1910, President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, best summed up the concept of the necessity of failing in a speech at the Sorbonne in Paris, France:

• It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

Oftentimes, all of us, student, teacher, staff, and parent, have to step into the arena. During these challenges, “success” is simply not being afraid of defeat!

The "Superintendent's Column"
by Dr. Thomas A. Gorman also appears in "The Citizen" newspaper and on-line at "MontvilleTAP"