We oftentimes question whether our writing is good enough based on grades assigned to us by our teachers and professors. But even when we get a bad grade, we are developing our writing skills. In, “Failure Can Be an Important Part of Writing Development”, authors Collin Brooke and Allison Carr explain that failure is necessary when it comes to our writing development. Brooke and Carr believe that we should not be expected to have perfect writing skills and we should also have plenty of room for developing those skills through failure. Both authors mention that” One of the most important things students can learn is that failure is an opportunity for growth.” This quote is important for writers to remember because our failures do not define us. Those failed attempts are learning opportunities and help with our writing growth.
In our school systems, teachers and professors tend to focus on rubrics rather than the overall effort of a student. With these rubrics in place, it is almost impossible for a student to feel comfortable with failure. Even though the rubrics are mostly in place because they are required by each state, writing development should be more important than a letter grade or specified requirements. Many students give up or shut down in their writing courses for fear of going outside of the rubric’s lines. If more students had the opportunity to fail, there may be more interest in writing courses or even more open discussions on the more sensitive topics that a lot of people hide from.
Although the views of Brooke and Carr are counterintuitive, they explain exactly what is needed to allow writers to feel more vulnerable in their writing ventures. With the opportunity of failure in place writers may be able to progress with better understandings of what mistakes were made from their previous attempts rather than have their self-esteem knocked down constantly. Working through these failures should be top priority when it comes to writing and the learning concepts behind it. Even those who do not agree with the concept of continuous failure as a learning attempt, should still use the idea as a means to introduce deeper thought-provoking ideas and subjects.
Overall, students failures should be looked at as learning opportunities. As stated by Brooke and Carr, ” They must have the opportunity to try, to fail, and to learn from those failures as a means of intellectual growth.”
