Kathryn Schultz On Being Honesty

Wrong But Responsible In her 2011 TED talk “On Being Honest,” Kathryn Shultz references St. Augustine as saying “I err therefore I am.” A couple of hundred years after St. Augustine’s quote, Shultz understood that people’s capacity of making mistakes does not have to be either something to be ashamed or embarrassed of. Instead, it is what makes people human. It has become common today to think that to be wrong and to make mistakes is equal to ignorance, idiocy or evil assumptions (Schultz). Although Schultz blames society’s parent/teacher educational system, I believe that when a student enters in his/hers teens, it is the individual’s responsibility to take control of their action and honesty. The way I believe a student assumes his/her
Teachers also guide and mold young children: they are charged of the onerous duty of teaching moral values, communication skills, and basic abilities. However, often the main lesson that young people receive from parents and teachers is that being wrong and doing mistakes should not happen and that it leads to uncomfortable or unwanted consequences. It seems that the standard way of dealing with this behaviours can be summarized in the sentence “Don’t be wrong and you will be fine”. In her speech, Schultz harshly criticizes the way parents and teachers deal with being wrong and making mistakes. For example, the consequence that comes from earning negative or low grades could lead a children to be tagged as dumb, trouble maker, lazy, and irresponsible; in even worse cases the child is punished in a more physical manner, like being placed at the corner of a room by a teacher or being yelled at by the parents. Many people assume that the best way to succeed in life is by “being right”, but consequently this idea might lead to forget that it takes a few mistakes and attempts before finally “getting it