Failure Is An Option — By John Reed

Failure Is An Option
Anyone who watches the news or has ever attempted college, knows the disconnect between academia and the real world. One of the most glaring examples is the “self-esteem“ movement that came out several decades ago in education.
This idea that the entire schooling experience should be centered around not damaging students’ fragile little egos has done incalculable damage to education and our society at large. We do our kids no favors by lying to them that everything is fine when it isn’t.
Even gym classes weren’t safe: the “every child a winner” program forced kids into non-competitive activities that did nothing to prepare them for life in the real world. It’s easy to see why after a couple of generations of this foolishness so many adults crumble when things don’t go their way.
Now, it’s always someone else’s fault when instant success isn’t achieved. The company wasn’t diverse enough, nothing was equitable, not enough types of people were included. After all, if you could get medals in school with grades in the 70s, certainly you’re entitled to success in the real world.
This mindset makes people risk-averse, never daring to take a chance on anything. As a result, business as usual continues to plug up the pipelines of progress.
A perfect example: 50+ years after the moon landing NASA still hasn’t been able to get its next generation moon rocket Artemis beyond earth orbit. This despite using mainly recycled 40 year-old tech from the space shuttle program.
Those few who dare to take risks are labeled crazy or radical. Using the “test it-break it-fix it-test it again” mindset SpaceX has managed to reuse their rockets some 400 times in just the last few years. They are easily 10-15 years ahead of any other commercial space system, and probably 20 years ahead of NASA.
It’s been jokingly said that one definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Politicians on both sides of the aisle have been working for decades on war on drugs, the war on poverty, the war on… well, war with no major progress.
Maybe it’s time to try something different. There’s no question the Trump administration is taking major risks with their efforts to reform trade, immigration, government finance, etc. Who knows? It might not work. There are decades if not centuries of inertia to overcome. Failure may indeed be the outcome. But if he even partially succeeds, the result will be better than what we have now.
And that’s worth taking the risk.