If we learn more from failure...?

Question

...why don't we teach kids how to fail?

Answer 1

We don't need to teach kids to fail, we just need to let them fail. And be there when they try to pick themselves up.

Or to put it another way, using an old proverb:

We don't need to throw them off the horse. Eventually they will fall. We need to let them fall, not always be there to catch them. Then we need to help them up, dust them off, and say that good old saying, "You fell off the horse, now let's see about getting you back on."

I think too often parents and teachers are there to catch kids before they really get into trouble - because it's the adult that's afraid, not the child - which causes the kid to keep coming close to the edge over and over again. The adult needs to let them fall off of the edge once and for all, then the child will learn where the edge is, and how to avoid it next time.

Answer 2

We learn from failure, as we learn from success. But we learn more from failing and understanding why we failed.

If we teach kids how to fail, then we teach them to find the wrong answers and to use the wrong techniques. We'd be handicapping them, instead of empowering them.

You can't teach a kid to hit the ball by practicing missing.

No one's ever climbed a mountain by going downhill.