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1.1 Inspirational Quote

  • Posted by CUNY Mindset Initiative on December 26, 2023 at 4:27 pm

    1.1 Inspirational Quote

    “Failure is a greater teacher than success.”​

    —  Clarissa Pinkola Estés

    💬  Discussion:

    1. Respond to this quote: Comment, reflect, agree/disagree, share a similar or contradictory quote, or provide an example to support or reject this quote. You may use text, video, audio, etc.
    2. Respond constructively and substantively (≥2 sentences) to another participant’s comments.
Viewing 15 replies - 91 through 105 (of 108 total)
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  • Matthew Brittain (he/him)
    Member
    July 15, 2024 at 12:09 pm

    I absolutely agree it is important for someone who experiences failure to have the opportunity to reflect about what worked and what did not work. Students should be encouraged to reflect on how taking better advantage of the resources available to support them could have resulted in success, rather than being hard on themselves for not being “smart enough” or not “working hard enough.”

    Olga (she/her)
    Member
    July 15, 2024 at 12:30 pm

    The quote makes me think of another, maybe not yet popular phrase that “practice makes progress” (not perfect), which is really the goal of higher education. The concept of failure is a big part of this mantra, that small steps contribute to the whole, whether they are positive or negative lessons.

    Olga (she/her)
    Member
    July 15, 2024 at 12:37 pm

    Yes!!! Well said and right on point, one does not become an expert in something just by dreaming about it. Learning and growth come from challenging experiences—failure and commitment go hand in hand.

    Careen Purcell
    Member
    July 15, 2024 at 1:52 pm

    The quote inspires me because it suggests that success might lead to complacency, as the achiever may lose motivation. On the other hand, encountering failure offers an opportunity for self-reflection, learning, and developing new strategies. Moreover, perseverance is crucial in the face of failure. It can provide individuals with valuable knowledge that they can use to motivate others and demonstrate the lessons learned from setbacks, making others feel determined and resilient.
    Here’s a similar quote:
    “Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.” – Winston Churchill :

    Marta Kowalczyk
    Participant
    July 15, 2024 at 3:30 pm

    From personal experience, a setback creates a greater desire to achieve more. I wouldn’t call it a failure; it’s just a redirection of the focus to achieve the goal.

    Robin Naughton
    Participant
    July 23, 2024 at 10:37 am

    The quote touches on the understanding that failure can teach you more than your success might.  If you are successful, and you expect to be successful, then you are convinced that your approach works and there is no need to reflect deeply upon it.  However, if you are not successful and you expect to be successful, then you are not convinced that your approach works and as such you find it necessary to figure out what worked and what didn’t work and how you can be successful going forward.  Thus, you learn more, reflect more, make changes, grow, and try again. Now, if we always reflect on what works or doesn’t work regardless of success or failure, we will always learn something new and grow whether we succeed or not.  Because success and failure are relative and personal, what is considered a success to one may be considered a failure to another and vice versa.

    Robin Naughton
    Participant
    July 23, 2024 at 10:53 am

    I agree.  As Nelson Mandela once said, “I never lose. I either win or I learn.”  Failure is relative and one data point. Having multiple and diverse data points help you learn more and do more.

    Katherine Joubin
    Member
    July 23, 2024 at 11:40 am

    I think it’s a great idea to provide challenging problems with multiple steps, followed by a discussion on different approaches to solving a problem. This way, they can see wrong answers as learning opportunities rather than mistakes. That is directly relevant to the genetics problems you are teaching, but also to so many other aspects of the biological sciences.

    Casandra Silva Sibilin (she/her/hers)
    Member
    July 25, 2024 at 10:46 am

    I came across this resource through my Computing Integrated Teacher Education (CITE) Digital Humanities reading group, and remembered this forum! So interesting to find “failure” as a keyword:
    https://digitalpedagogy.hcommons.org/keyword/Failure

    This article is specially relevant:
    https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2012/08/21/essay-importance-teaching-failure

    Mélida Sánchez
    Participant
    July 29, 2024 at 6:42 pm

    I agree with you, Angela, about encouraging students not to fear making mistakes. I repeat it in my classes, and they understand it
    as a way of learning.

    Mélida Sánchez
    Participant
    July 29, 2024 at 6:49 pm

    Hi Rebecca,

    I like the idea of sharing with students that we also fail. The important thing is to overcome it and do our best next time again and again.

    Mark Zelcer
    Member
    July 31, 2024 at 1:27 pm

    “Failure is a greater teacher than success.”

    I don’t know… Everyone seems to think that it is true. It is the kind of thing we want to be true, because we fail so often and we want our failures to be positive. This sounds like a good way to start an inspirational pep-talk. But is it true?

    When one fails, they may or may not learn something from the failure. They only know that what they did, didn’t work. They don’t necessarily learn why. When one succeeds, they learn that what they did, worked. One may or may not learn why, but at least they know how to do something. What am I missing?

    Mark Zelcer
    Member
    July 31, 2024 at 1:33 pm

    I prefer your version of this to the original. Failures may or may not be a greater teacher than success, but when students are presented with a way to reframe what they are doing, rather than reframe what they know to have happened – that is they can think of a problem as an opportunity rather than a failure as a success – they can approach challenges with more grit.

    Lara Stapleton (She/her)
    Member
    August 13, 2024 at 4:34 pm

    I absolutely agree with this. As a matter of fact, I tell students that successful students fail more than other people because they knock on more doors. I had a student who had failed to get into a fellowship and and internship that he had applied to. He was quite depressed, and when he heard that success involves failure, he said he felt much better. Last I heard of this student, he was on a Fulbright.

    Lara Stapleton (She/her)
    Member
    August 13, 2024 at 4:35 pm

    I like these ideas of redirection and focus; this is a very optimistic way to think, and I’ll be encouraging students to think this way also.

Viewing 15 replies - 91 through 105 (of 108 total)
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