Beyond achievements, education must equip young people with the skills to bounce back from setbacks
WHETHER we are in the education industry or not, we are all familiar with phrases such as “reach for the stars”, “aim for the highest” and “aspire to be the best”.
We see them emblazoned on school walls, T-shirts, inspirational posters, social media posts and even embedded in institutional anthems.
In schools, we use these phrases ourselves when motivating our students or school teams. On a personal level, what we mean is simple: we want our students to reach their full potential.
And by “best”, “highest” and “greatest”, we often refer to winning awards, receiving prizes, acing examinations, securing scholarships or becoming the top orator, athlete or football player. We want them to make their parents, school and themselves proud.
As far back as I can remember, teachers have always encouraged students to pursue excellence. It is part of our job. Quite simply, we want them all to succeed.
However, our definition of success is often prescriptive. We want students to believe in themselves, envision a promising future and strive towards careers that place them in respected positions in society.
And so, we organise motivational talks and character-building sessions.
To support our aspirations for holistic education and moral development, we have embedded universal values into our school curricula. Ranging from belief in God to kindness and justice, the 18 universal moral values have become a key component of the Moral Education subject in secondary schools.
In higher education institutions, core values such as justice, integrity and courage are now integral to efforts to promote values-based education. Institutions are encouraged to infuse values throughout the curriculum through classroom teaching and learning, assessment, co-curricular activities, institutional culture and professional practice.
Our curriculum objectives declare a desire to see students becoming morally responsible and ethical individuals.
We want our graduates to become upstanding members of society who are empathetic, resilient, honest and self-aware. We want them to be highly sought after by employers and become role models for future generations.
It all sounds like a wonderful dream, and there is nothing wrong with striving towards these aspirations.
But as teachers, we all carry memories of moments when a student’s dreams have come crashing down despite their best efforts.
Perhaps it was the student who cried after losing a competition they and everyone else believed they would win. Perhaps it was after receiving examination results far below expectations. Perhaps it was the bewildered look on their faces when they failed to receive scholarships they were certain they deserved.
We remember those moments when the pieces of broken dreams lay scattered before them, and we did not know what to say to ease their disappointment.
Not one of the 18 values they had learnt in Moral Education class, nor anything from leadership or character-building camps, could help them in those moments.
Lately, I was confronted with the same bewilderment from a former straight-A student who couldn’t understand why his company had laid him off even though he had been voted “Employee of the Month” three times in a row.
And as he tried to rationalise the situation, he remained stuck and unable to move forward.
I remember other former students facing different challenges, including broken relationships, terminal illnesses, the loss of family members and failed businesses.
Perhaps we need to ask ourselves whether our teaching of moral values, character-building programmes or even values-based education includes lessons on handling failure.
The harsh reality is that we will all experience failure, whether in big or small ways. Does our curriculum teach students how to pick up the broken pieces and begin again after devastating storms?
This is not about introducing negativity or pessimism into young lives that are just beginning to spread their wings. It is about preparing them for life.
We need to prepare students for moments when things do not go their way – how to rise after failure, keep moving forward and finish the race even when they know they may come in last.
Beyond teaching a curated curriculum filled with high-sounding values, we should teach students how to recover from failures and lost opportunities.
For this is true courage and resilience: the ability to reflect, reassess, pick up the shattered pieces and move forward. It is the strength to stand again rather than remain trapped in disappointment.
We need to embed in our teaching the ability to draw strength from difficult situations and use them as launching pads to greater heights.
More importantly, have we taught students to become the person who reaches out a hand to someone lying broken in the mud and helps them rise again?
One day, the roles may be reversed, and they may be the ones needing that helping hand.
Maybe they will never reach the original goal. Maybe they will. Maybe the goal itself will change.
But every step they take after each setback will make them stronger, wiser and closer to becoming the holistic individuals we hope they will be.
Dr G. Mallika Vasugi, who currently teaches at a local university, provides insights into the teaching profession. The views expressed here are the writer’s own.
