What's the norm with failing nowadays?

Genuinely, I fear this could be like a LinkedIn post. I see so many of my friends posting about confidence and how it's so unjust to shame others for their dreams and having faith in what college they want to go to. However, this is not that conversation. I am all for confidence, especially for people lacking it or for the people needing it; however, sometimes I think, no, I know we need humility.

Be this as it may, everyone is a contributing member of society; some contribute small, some contribute barely anything, and some contribute everything. This is a very important statement, because I fear the norm of education is rapidly regressing, and members that contribute to society are losing literacy in quite literally every subject, from digital media to politics, from literature to basic algebra.

Within my state of Texas, we have something called the Texas Success Initiative Assessment, or TSIA for short, in both English and math. In completing the TSIA, you can achieve the benefit of taking Dual Credit Classes, depending on which section you have passed. If you passed the English, you can take English, art, and history type classes. If you passed Math, you can take Math, social, and life sciences. The tests themselves are somewhat difficult as they require the first two years of high school to understand them. I even failed my math once on the first and second time (my school offers three tries without paying). However, they are needed for you to take college classes when you graduate, and completing them earlier is a benefit because you can gain college credits during high school. The thing is, there are so many exceptions, and this specific criterion of people is so thin when it comes to the specifications, but so wide when it comes to the quantity. Because quite literally, excluding

• People who have taken the test multiple times and finally passed

• People who have taken the SAT or ACT and meet the benchmark no longer need the TSI

• People who have passed the TSIA but choose not to take dual credit classes

• People who have intellectual disabilities, regardless of whether they pass or not

How are people okay with failing?

My school offers a class for seniors who have failed the TSIA and have decided not to retake it again until the next opportunity during the senior year, called English Prep and Math Prep. I know people who take this class because they choose to because it helps boost their GPA, and it helps them not be tanked in their senior year. People who choose a class and people who are forced to have a class are entirely different.

Humility and Confidence are both important aspects of a human's psyche; however, sometimes we need an equal balance, and not a full ego boost. Because we are at a time when we are going to college, we cannot be leeching off of people, and we certainly cannot keep being okay with failing. There is no hate for classes that are easier than others; there will always be a thin line between the honors and the regulars, but because there is a thin line, it's easy to be on either side.

Have confidence in yourself when you're lacking it, and have humility when you're full of it. It's always amazing to dream of high places, but it's also best to realize we don't need to gloat when we're a foot below another.