So what have you FAILED at?

        The declaration of SSC (Class 10th) scores heralds news of suicides committed by students who fail to score the expected marks or do not pass out. Many factors contribute to the high suicide rates- the stress induced by family and peer pressure being the highest contributors among all factors.

    Its time we introduced the stories of  entrepreneurs who have faced various challenges in their lives ranging from failing and dropping out of school/college to the outright rejection of their ideas, yet they never gave up.

        The most notable stories are those of Dhirubhai Ambani, Micheal Jordan, Bill Gates, Jan Koum, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Sarah Berkeley and  many more.These stories teach us the true meaning of "Failure is the stepping stone to success".

Stories of  people like Lizzie Velasquez serves as an inspiration. She not only fought against a rare disease but also against bullying.Today, she is a motivational speaker and has published two books.

 This drives home the point that even if cases like that of Founder of Reliance Industries,Dhirubhai Ambani,  are exceptional, there are many more ones of common people overcoming the odds stacked against them and finding the will to go on after repeated failures. There is no dearth in finding motivation to bring about a change in the psyche of the society from stories of local heroes, many of whom share tales very much like our own.

          Both students and parents need to learn that failing is not the end of the world.The need to inculcate this thought process has become very important for the simple reason that it is human nature to fear failure, but the courage to overcome one’s fears is also inbred in humans. Also we should not label students as intelligent or average.  

We cannot expect each human being to be molded in the same shape; the areas at which we humans excel are so very vast and different.  The talents showcased by us are varied, including academics, sports, arts, creativity, leadership and the list goes on.

        Teachers and parents should recognize this and cultivate this talent at an early age. Resources to enhance the hidden talents must be made available and the freedom to follow their true calling should be awarded to the youth.

 For only then would the fear of failure be curbed and a path to follow their dreams with  courage be forged.

Schools could do the following:

            ·   Conduct seminars on motivation

·   Let students learn and meet people who have fought failures and obstacles and emerged as winners: college graduates, entrepreneurs, sportsman, writers, artists, leaders, activists.

·    Organize interactive sessions with parents discussing their careers and struggles. It will be a source of inspiration for students to not give up and learn from their parents. Parents will get a chance to know about their kid's insecurities and obstacles and support them.

·   Movies like Chak De India, Frozen, Pursuit of Happyness can be motivational and teach students that life is full of ups and downs and that getting up after each failure not only makes them more courageous, but also gives them an impetus to face the more important hurdles in life ,since life is known to be unpredictable and full of new challenges.

The courage to face failure is looked upon as a major strength in today’s world.

It is believed that failure makes a person stronger, more sincere and prepares a person to tackle any twists life throws at him. 

             
 It can be said that failure in imminent, it is unavoidable. So it is in the best interests of the students as well as their parents to learn the art of coping with failures early on in their lives. Many resources are now disposed to the youth and therefore it becomes the responsibility of not only the students but the society as a whole to make the best use of them to get the optimal results.



The author of the article JZ volunteers with CACR on weekends along with her current job.

CACR is a education non-profit working with perseverance to improve the quality of education in public schools of India