There is a common misperception that success is always an upward trajectory. In truth, the most successful people are typically the ones who have had the most failures. Successful people are those who find the strength to persist in spite of the setbacks they may face.
Here at CI, you will encounter students who begin the semester strong and then get derailed. They start arriving late to class, miss a deadline for a paper, get a grade they aren’t happy with on a test, and eventually may stop attending class altogether. After an accumulation of setbacks, these student become so discouraged that they may drop a class or drop out of the University altogether.
For the faculty in the Composition Program at CI, it can be frustrating to see students slip away like this when we know they have the potential do well if only they can get back on track. Unfortunately, at the very time when such students could use additional help from faculty or the Writing Center, they often feel too self-conscious to do so. They are ashamed, embarrassed, or afraid that they have let us down in some way.
In reality, we would so much rather have a student come to us for help then just stop turning in work or disappear altogether. Students do not need to fear that we will be judging them for failing to meet our expectations. We know the issues that first year students face and are more than willing to help students find ways to address them. Our most compelling stories of student success in the program include moments when students dust themselves off after a fall and keep climbing.
If you’ve ever tried to go on a diet or exercise program, only to quit altogether once you start to fall off track, you understand the scenario described above. It can be tempting to take an “all or nothing” attitude in such matters. But what if, instead of just giving up altogether, we chose to start again? Wouldn’t we be better off?
When we have a setback, it can be difficult to get out of our own way to move forward. We focus on the failure to meet our own or someone else’s expectations, rather than simply acknowledging that we could have done better and trying again. if a student is willing to keep going, we faculty are more than happy to help that student get back on track. And we feel strongly that students will learn as much in bouncing back from setbacks as they will from their successes.
