First of all, I just want to say that I am very jealous Harvard got J.K. Rowling to speak at their commencement. Unless Paige O’Hara or John Lasseter (or a few other Disney people who I might be the only person excited to hear from) comes to my commencement, I think mine will fall a little flat compared to that.
Anyway, I was very happy that she decided to address the topic of failure to Harvard students. Harvard not only has the ivy league name, but it is one of those instant bonus items you can place on a resume because it is known as one of the top schools in the nation. Given that it is one of the top schools, it is only natural to assume that the best and brightest get into the school to study. Our cultural context has made the best and brightest terrified of failing, so I think it is beneficial to remind students that it is normal to fail at some things.
Students who typically end up going to Harvard have spent their entire lives trying to distinguish themselves from any kind of failure. While this may work for a time, it won’t give them any help when the inevitable happens. What if one student loses a job, or a house in an economic downturn? Or what if they have unexpected medical issues? Failure (even though people’s definition of failure may be different) is unavoidable, so pretending that it won’t happen won’t help people when it eventually does. One of the only things worse than failing is feeling like that isn’t normal or that you are the only one who didn’t succeed.
I feel like addressing our ability to fail will also help us bring others up. Overcoming failure may take help from other people, but how can you help someone if you don’t understand where they are coming from?
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