Our Wicked Problem

As our info graphic above displays, society puts a stigma on "failure" and this negative connotation makes incorporating Failure as a Learning Mode in education a wicked problem for educators. “We view successful people as winners, and everyone wants to be one of those people” (Williams, 2013). As children, we are indoctrinated to succeed, win, make the highest grades possible, and shoot for the stars. Teachers want students to succeed in the classroom. Administrators want their teachers and school/institution to succeed . Parents do not want that their child(ren) fail in fear that they will not succeed in life. All of these views create a wicked problem.

David Kelly says, “If you keep making the same mistakes again and again, you aren’t learning anything. If you keep making new and different mistakes, that means you are doing new things and learning” (Berger, p. 124, 2014). What society does not understand is that failure is often a part of success and is inevitable.

What if "failure as a learning mode" fails?

The educational system is challenged with using Failure as a Learning Mode because of the many factors that contribute to this problem. Students have extra curricular activities and classwork which creates times constraints and may make it difficult to keep them engaged in this type of learning. Administrators may have a difficult time keeping some or all teachers motivated to implement it as a learning mode. Teachers may not have substantial support and/or resources to help them throughout the process. Parents are unable to motivate their children and may struggle with keeping them on board with using failure in learning. All of these possibilities has our think tank asking the question, "What if Failure as a Learning Mode fails?"

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