In Praise of the F Word

I agree with Sherry's point that if students do not have "a healthy fear of failure," they will not be motivated to work. When I was growing up, I had that fear of failure instilled within me by my parents. My parents would set up educational guidelines that we had to meet in order to please them. If they weren't met, then failure required punishment, and punishment helped with the process of working hard in school. No one wants to be grounded over a weekend because of grades or being unsuccessful in class. I believe this is a healthy fear of failure because a good kid doesn't want to disappoint their parents in anyway. Kids try hard to please their parents so that they have more privileges in the long run. Having a fear of failure can be bad and unhealthy as well, because to please someone when you don't understand a certain situation can cause you to cheat and squeeze by each class. I did this in a few of my classes throughout high school, and at the time it seemed like the only option I could take because of how strict my parents were on my grades. Today I am in college and I have the fear of failure, but I think it's the healthiest fear it has ever been because it is me who will be disappointed if things don't work out as planned. I don't like letting myself down so I am doing the best I can to push myself and learn everything without feeling like I have to cheat to make it through. To have both healthy and unhealthy types of fear of failure helped me to realize that learning is necessary and my hard work will show in the end.