Sometimes You Just Have To...

Struggle

The above link provides an interesting article from NPR about how Eastern and Western cultures tackle learning.  It opens with a story explaining that other cultures instill a sense of struggle leading to greater accomplishments in their students.  With their system struggle is seen as an indicator of passion and persistence, while struggle in our system is seen as a lack of intelligence.  Many people in our culture believe intelligence to be an inherited gift, something that is already within us that must be tapped and used.  Other cultures see intelligence as earned through hard work and the ability to overcome difficulty.

I've always seen intelligence as defined by the latter understanding written above.  Struggle is in no means an indicator of the lack of intelligence.  I find that when one struggles for a project, test, or what-have-you the end result is usually more emotionally charged and meaningful.  The gratification of the finished work is also much more uplifting to the individual.  This was something accomplished through hard work and determination.  With the increasingly negative view of initial failure our society has become one that fears struggle out of a deeper fear of failure.  It is not a bad thing to fail, it is only a bad thing when you fail and do not learn from that failure.