Why failure is not failure

After a couple of assignments in my class, I have had a few parents complain about the fact that my assignments are hard for their children and their students are having to struggle a bit to figure out the answers. I would like to propose that this struggle is a good thing and builds student self-sufficiency and hastens learning. It has been shown that students who get work "wrong" and then work to correct themselves actually do significantly better as a result than those who easily get the "right" answers. Imagine that you, as an average 7th grader, are put in a first grade math class and easily get "A"s in that class. Your friend, on the other hand is in a 7th math grade class and is struggling to learn the material so only earns "B"s and come "C"s. At the end of the year, both of you take a grade-level math test over the material you should have learned that year. Who do you think will do better on the final? Think about it... Are grades what you are striving for, or knowledge? Is struggle a good thing or should school be easy? Is life easy when you grow up? Will a person who knows how to struggle to get what they want do better than a person who expects everything to be handed to them? I think you already knew the answers to these questions so get to work! See you in class.