When does a person fail? Is it primarily when they don’t achieve their goals? How about when you have a small hiccup to an otherwise semi-flawless semester?
With the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Sciences at UOIT, failure is a whole…different manner. Starting in the Winter 2008 semester, they adopted a new policy which states a student must pass the final exam in order to pass the course. Upon inspection, this seems like a pretty reasonable demand/policy, since you really DO need to know your stuff in order to pass the course, right? But what about when you’ve worked hard the entire semester — getting all the assignments, quizzes, and even midterms (!!), to near perfection (ie. 90% and above), and simply have a brain cramp or unfortunate events occur when the final rolls around? According to the FEAS, you’re pretty fucked screwed.
I understand though (at least, that’s what I tell the administration), because you don’t want someone acing everything during the school year and skip the final and still pass the course with a 60%. It just seems unfair that if the unfortunate happens when finals roll around…it’s just that: unfortunate.
So this marks another exam/course I am worried for, perhaps to the extent that my BP returns full-blown…because frankly, I have not performed at a very satisfying level on my personal level/standards. But one thing I’ve always been taught as a young person is that, despite popular belief, it’s OK to fail. Let me explain, because I am sure there are many people wondering how I could make such a statement!
Failing at something is a good way to reflect upon your inadequacies, and…more plainly/obviously, your failures. If you see where you have gone wrong, after failing, then by all means you are ready to begin your healing process and try again harder, with those revisions in mind. If this is the case, where you understand where you have erred and seek to fix it when you are presented the opportunity again, you have failed for the better good. However, if you fail, but do not understand where you have erred…then nothing can help you. It’s kind of like taking history courses: We study and learn history to prevent the unfortunate from reoccurring, and to promote the successes to repeat, with improvements.
So yes, even though I am scared and worried out of my wits for the courses I have recently written exams for, I am also at peace that whatever happens, I will also accept with full grace. If I have indeed screwed up, at least I know where I have screwed up (I have pretty good ideas where), and will focus on fixing those errors if given the opportunity. What I am trying to say is we have room for improvements, and we shouldn’t focus on when you fail, but what to do when you fail (notice my emphasis!) But of course, if we just change the policy so that an entire semester’s hard work isn’t laid to waste because of a final screw up, I’d be equally happy probably. As would all the other engineers.