My First Fail

2 min read

Well, it finally happened.  My first fail in academia.  All my life academics has come easily to me.  Outside of a few run-on sentences here and there, I’ve always been ‘book-smart’.  

Last Thursday I took my first test at language school.  I failed miserably.  I had studied and worked hard, and still failed at something that is hugely important in my line of work.

To be specific, I received the equivalent of a 46.3% on my exam.  As an educator, I know to show mastery of a subject it really requires about a 90% score at the very least.  Ideally more like 95% or higher is true mastery of a subject.

At first, I was fairly upset.  The first time I failed at something academically, are you kidding me?  I’ve prided myself on continuous learning on different subjects post college.  Look up the stats on how many people read a book after college and it’s disheartening to a reader like myself to say the least.

By the next day though, I was surprisingly grateful.  I looked at other areas of my life where I had failed miserably and realized God had used those failures to bring about some tremendous transformation in my life.

If we don’t fail at something new, we’re most likely not pushing ourselves hard enough.  How many great leaders who succeeded in the long run failed in the short run?  History has no shortage of these types of characters.

So, where do I go from here?  I recently checked out a book that looks like it has some real potential in supplementing my language school.  I’m relearning how to learn in a classroom setting as well.  Steffani is a model student so I’m trying to emulate her as well (90% on her first test, for those of you who might be wondering.)

Feedback results in improvement, it is absolutely vital in any area of life you want to improve in.  My profesora seemed surprised when I requested a short quiz every week.  Thankfully the other students agreed with me and so this last week we had a short quiz.  I got an 84%, clearly I’m improving so that’s encouraging.  

Well, I’m signing off for now, I need to go study!

For your viewing pleasure as we enter the Christmas season...