Home By Marquel The Failure of Success

The Failure of Success

grahamMarquel TPVs NYTimes Christian Thinking Section correspondent, was wiggling while counting his toes when he read The Problem With Positive Thinking It calms you down but drains you of energy. So says the Times. It seems so Unamerican. According to the Times, people who think they will succeed more often fail. That conflicts with everything we’ve been taught. Marquel went to the DOE because it’s our schools that practice the think-good-feel-good strategy.

“Are you suggesting that we tell our students they’ll fail?” Asked the Chancellor.
“According to the Times, more will succeed if told they’ll fail than if told they’ll succeed. Did you ever try it?” I asked.
“We did it with one uptown school many years ago. It was a form of tough love.”
“What happened to them all?” I asked.
“Well they were a very unhappy cohort.”
“How’d they do in school?” I persisted.
“They all graduated. One hundred percent. We’ve never had that before or since. All attended college and all except one went to medical school.” She told me.
“What did the failure do?” I asked.
“He wasn’t a failure. He just didn’t go to medical school. He went to divinity school and became a Catholic priest. Such a sad boy. But he loved confession. It was his only joy.” She said.
“So you don’t do that any more. You tell them they’ll succeed.”
“All of them. They’re happier. Their parents are happy.” She said.
“Until graduation day.” I suggested.
“For about half there is no graduation day. You know our numbers.” She told me.
“Wouldn’t it be better to tell them they’ll fail to get them to pass?” I asked.
“We could never do that again. America is happy face country. This is what everyone wants.”
normanYes, thought Marquel, this is very American at least since Dr. Norman Vincent Peale wrote “The Power of Positive Thinking” in the fifties. Presented as a kind of Catholic optimism, people were to ignore all negatives. He was criticized as a crank and a fraud, but happy face America appears to have adopted it all.
I went down to Giants stadium and asked if the players were told they were likely to win or lose before a game.
“Win of course,” said the coach, “should we tell them they’re going to lose?”
“According to today’s Times, yes,” I answered. “They’re more likely to succeed if they’re told they’ll fail”
“We don’t follow that theory,” he said.
I couldn’t resist saying, “it shows.” Before they tackled me and threw me out bodily.
I went to the College Board and asked what was the best way to send off a child to take the SATs.
“Make sure you give them a solid breakfast and tell them they’ll do well.” I was told.
“Today’s Times said you should tell them they’re about to fail.” I explained.
“That’s absurd. Tell a child he’s about to fail? Who would do that?” He asked.
“Well I’ll do it with my kids and if I remember it’s what my parents told me and I just missed 1600 by a couple points.” I said.
“That’s freakish. Tell a child he’s going to fail? Why?” He asked.
“So he’ll ace it. That is what you want, isn’t it?” I asked.
“Of course, but I don’t believe that’s the way to do it.” He said.
“The research supports it. Do you have research?” I asked.
“Not on this particular topic. We all just know that you send a kid out with a good mental attitude.” He asserted.
“Well if you’d done research you’d find a good mental attitude is a failing one.” I retorted.
I decided on a simple test of the theory. I went down to the motor vehicle bureau and talked to all the people who had passed, and a few who had failed, their driving tests. Thirteen people passed. I asked them if they knew they were going to do well. They all said something like, “my God, I knew I was going to fail. I just didn’t know how many pedestrians I’d kill in the process.” They were all so happy that their initial thoughts of failure didn’t seem to affect them.
Four people failed. They were uniformly surprised. Not only did they know, wrongly, that they would pass, but two of them were so confident they hadn’t practiced nor studied.
My conclusion: Don’t be so cocky. Don’t be an optimist. Assume, as I do daily, that nothing good will happen and only evil will prevail. It’s the only way to succeed in life and for once the Times got it right.
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BY MARQUEL:The Failure of Success

7 COMMENTS

  1. Loved this:
    “What happened to them all?” I asked.
    “Well they were a very unhappy cohort.”
    “How’d they do in school?” I persisted.
    “They all graduated. One hundred percent. We’ve never had that before or since. All attended college and all except one went to medical school.” She told me.

  2. I read it because you replied to my comments. I got your point about the sad priest. You are a know-it-all Marquel, but I do look forward to your writings every day.

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