Is the value of failure underrated?

As the last days come to an end in my school this year, I can't help feeling lucky. I know it's easy to say this at the end of a school year, but it's always a bit depressing when things gear down so much.

I know. I should have my head examined.

I did and it didn't work. I even came up short on Google: "No definitions were found for Dan Powell". I don't care. I love what I do. I get to be in a place where I can create, explore, learn and grow. I work with other teachers as a "crew" in my school. Nobody gets left out, and we all have a common purpose: to develop our kids as people. I just told the kids at an assembly today that I see them as people, not pupils or test scores.

Our kids are cultured differently...they learn to value each other and their own strengths. They also get chances to test their limits and possibly fail. (I remember a teacher a long time ago told us in an "inservice" to never, ever tell a student that they failed. And then she shuddered at the thought.) I could never figure out what the hangup is so many teachers have with failure. I learned so much from it personally.

Yet, maybe it's that other schools stop at failure and never teach their kids how to manage it, or learn from it, or make it work for them! The crew of teachers at our school are fearless this way. And it gives me confidence to be more creative and exploratory. And that's what I do best. I live to create, explore, and even fail once in awhile. What do you think? Is the value of failure underrated?