Students today feel an unwanted heaviness on them. Call it the outcome of the highly competitive world or the urgency to excel in every field. This continuous judgement that they receive at every walk of their life has provoked them to work harder and more ardently. This is just the backstage story of one’s success. However, success never comes alone; failure is a part of the journey. Failures, no matter how big or small, are an inevitable part of life and they are always going to face some or the other challenge. Having said that, the question that arises now is, how do we actually prepare the students to cope with failures? It is important that we build the bridge to yet and let go of the ‘now’.

In every school or educational institution students are supposed to pass a certain mark and if the students fail to attain the desired mark, it puts them in wonder and the students feel defeated. Instead, if the teachers grade these students with a ‘Not yet’, the students will be optimistic and believe that they are still learning. So, in this scenario the students can leverage the power of yet and overcome the tyranny of now. Students realize that their abilities could be developed and nurtured to bring out more in them.

Also, grading students with ‘not yet’ instead of failing them can help them in developing a growing mind set. As a result students will engage themselves, process their mistakes and learn from them. As students learn, it is also important that students are praised of their effort and not just talent. Praising the student, the efforts they put, process, strategies, their focus, their improvement can help in developing the bridge to yet and let go of the ‘now’. Being raised for the now and focusing on just getting all ‘A’s in grade, the students today are forgetting how to dream big. It is important that we build the bridge to ‘yet’ and let go of the ‘now’. ‘Yet’ will help them realize that the terms difficulty and effort are something more. Instead of getting a feeling of dumbness and giving up after repetitive failures, these terms will help them make smarter. We always hear stories where students say that they have tried so hard however, could not achieve what they wished for. Hence, it is high time that we help students in believing that their abilities will help them grow.

– Crescent CU