Self-protection from failure

Anyone who has ever read something written by Malcolm Gladwell knows how impactful his writing can be. Gladwell is a blogger and writer for The New Yorker, and can be found here (www.gladwell.com). One of the most insightful pieces of information that I have heard Gladwell discuss online is found in a published discussion between Gladwell, and ESPN.com's Bill Simmons (http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/simmons/index). The transcript can be found here (http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/060302).

About midway through the discussion, Gladwell touches on a very interesting topic that seems to be applying more and more to school age students. He talks about the ever common strategy of protecting one's self against the damaging aspects of failure by not giving very much effort towards achieving success. Basically, he asks, "Why don't people work hard when they know that it is in their best interests to do so?" Gladwell surmises that the answer is simple: Self-protection. The theory arises from a discussion about professional athletes. For example, Gladwell points out that it takes a special kind of strength and resilience to be someone like Peyton Manning. Specifically, it must be difficult to know that you have done every single possible thing to become successful, but still fall short of ultimate success (this was written in March of 2006, less than a year before the Colts actually broke through to win the Super Bowl). In a case such as this, there are absolutely no excuses for failure except for the very difficult proposition that one simply isn't good enough. Everything has been done to ensure success, except only failure is achieved. It takes a huge amount of strength to risk that revelation from appearing.

Gladwell then applies the analogy to education. Students who stay up all night hanging with friends the night before a big test are likely to fail. However, their behavior has somewhat protected them from the negative aspects of that failure because their test score doesn't mean that they are stupid, simply irresponsible. On the other hand, a student who studies all night and still fails a test, has absolutely no excuses, and has to deal with all of the negative connotations of that failure. As a high school teacher and coach, I see this strategy all the time. It simply isn't cool to try. It has become a very odd dynamic wherein if one achieves a great accomplishment, it is actually somewhat diminished in the opinion of their peers if they had to work really hard for it. The thinking is, "Yeah, you did something great, but that was only because you worked for it. I could have done that to, I just didn't feel like it."

I have seen students take this strategy to an ever greater extreme recently. Not only do students not give their best effort so as to protect themselves from failure, but many are now telling anyone and everyone how stupid they are, uncoordinated and unathletic they are, and overall how worthless they are. This is in an effort to lower expectations for one's self as low as possible, so that any kind of relative success can be seen as greater, while all failure just become expected, and thus not that big of a deal. It becomes sort of like living life while playing with "house money." If you win, that is great, but if you lose, there is no risk associated with that loss.

What does this say about our burgeoning adults that are about to enter the workforce? I don't know exactly what it says, but I would bet that "The Greatest Generation" would never have been able to be described like this or adopted these strategies. One thing that immediately comes to mind is the entitlement that many young people seem to possess as a result of the overflowing amount of opportunities that most school aged students are given on a daily basis. Opportunity is wonderful, and students should get every chance to be successful. However, I wonder if anyone even realizes how thankful all of these young people should be for these opportunities. All of the gifts given to school aged students now are just "expected," as many young people don't realize how lucky they are.

I would love to hear about other's experiences with this phenomenon, as I am sure it rears it's ugly head all across the globe. Thanks for reading.

Live well,

Chad

Social networking

I read an interesting article by John C. Dvorak today centering on the fagility of social networking sites (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2288738,00.asp). Dvorak made some really interesting points about the evolution of such sites, even going back to the mid-90's when social networking was in more of a chat format, and designed to be similar to CB conversation. Of course the modern day equivalents include popular sites like Myspace and Facebook.

It is interesting to think not only how far read/write web interaction has come, but just how far it can go. For example, 10 years ago a site like Myspace would have been a place that only the undateable would go to try to find a romantic connection. Online dating and connection was quite taboo less than a decade ago. Now, it is considered a rite of passage to develop your own page as a way to express yourself as an individual.

Dvorak discusses at length just how fragile the actual connections are that are made on such sites, and how easily people will simply drop and move from one community to another. He even goes as far as to say that people should be careful about just how "real" they feel these connections are. In many ways, I totally agree with him. Internet safety and literacy is a hugely important skill that all young people must learn. Individuals will always jump to the new bit of technology, regardless of product or brand loyalty. However, I think that while Dvorak makes alot of great points, he is being a bit shortsighted. Consider this site that I now am posting to. Blogging is becoming more and more important as a means of connection and learning. It does not seem unreasonable that as time goes by, connections and relationships created and maintained online will be just as vital as those done face to face. As the world becomes more and more "flat," online communites and information dissemination may not only grow in importance, but become the primary means of interactions (especially as this is one corner of our economy that won't be completely crippled by the impending energy crisis in the U.S.).

Time to power up

Hello all in cyberspace.

I am a middle school Health educator (yes, I am the guy that talks about sex ed.). I am currently taking a class on how to best include web education in the classroom. Focuses include blogging, RSS, wikis, and webquests. I am completely new to the world of blogging, and am looking to gain some experience before I attempt to implement it in my lessons beginning next year.

I would like to connect with other educators of any kind who can give me feedback on the process that I am trying to open up to students. The title I chose for this particular blog comes from the idea that todays students are "powering down" the second that they enter the school doors, and that we are educators maybe doing them a diservice by demanding that. I used to hear that phrase and laugh with my fellow teachers, as we can often be resistant to change like most. However, the more I learn, the more appropriate web connection seems for my students.

As I become more comfortable with this process, I look forward to blogging about a number of topics including professional and college athletics (I am also a P.E. teacher), politics, the current state of education in the country, relationships, pop culture and hopefully much, much more. I am hoping to open up a new world that I was previously unaware of. I look forward to interacting with anyone who may find my random streams of consciousness interesting and/or thought provoking.

Live well,

CHAD