Learning is failure

i'm really being brave here.

-enna

October 24, 2008
Word Length: 272
TOPIC: Learning starts with failure; the first failure is the beginning of education.
Most students protest at the statement, “Learning starts with failure; the first failure is the beginning of education.” I am not most students. I agree with this statement. I have seen its truth in my own life.
I used to go to a public elementary school. I learned quickly. I should say, I learned quickly from my mistakes. One does not know that her p or d is backwards if she is not told. Her failure, and my failures, are mistakes from which we could learn the truth, and also the proper way to do activities like writing.
I grew, as does every other child. In sixth grade, I was removed from the school system to be homeschooled. I learned even more rapidly, for I was not held back by twenty other kids. When I was in eighth grade, I took the SAT for the first time. On account of the fact that I learned so quickly, my mother needed to understand what I needed to know before entering college. She made me take a test she knew I would fail; my failure was, in fact, necessary for me to continue to learn. The next year, she did the same thing. I took the ACT at 15 years of age. Once again, I was set up for failure so that I could learn.
Learning is a series of failures. I could not learn to write properly until my failure was revealed and corrected. I had to place myself in a position to fail so that I could learn. So I failed. Now I shall rise to greater levels than were ever possible.