Wake Up, Look Up

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hello everyone thanks for listening to

wake up lookup a podcast where we

connect events happening in real time to

the Gospel of Jesus Christ I'm Zach wck

and in today's episode we're asking a

simple question can we admit failure

this is prompted by something I read

this week about the NYU School of

Medicine six years ago NYU was the 11th

ranked medical school in the country and

it became the first top ranked medical

school to go entirely tuition free

that's because a a billionaire gave a

$100 million gift that in perpetuity

would fund medical school at NYU for

free and the goal of the gift was pretty

simp Le most doctors graduate with a ton

of student loan debt and as a result

they have to make economic decisions

more than passion driven decisions it

also makes medical school cost

prohibitive for many students who can't

afford to go into that kind of debt so

as a result the billionaire gave a $

hundred million thinking two things

would happen one is medical graduates

now free from crippling debt would be

free to choose things like Pediatrics or

Family Medicine where there's a shortage

of doctors and and wouldn't have to go

chase the more lucrative forms of

medicine because they wouldn't be

climbing out of debt the other thing

they hoped would happen is that it would

diversify the student body at NYU School

of Medicine the thinking being that if

you took the cost out of it more and

more students from underprivileged

backgrounds minority backgrounds would

be able to go to medical school and the

student body would become more diverse

now six years later six years $100

million the program has been a colossal

failure that's right it has produced

absolutely none of the outcomes it

purported to produce the student body at

NYU is not more diverse it's less

diverse in fact as a result of this

tuition-free program black students at

the school for example have gone from

12% of the student body six years ago to

now 3% of the student body in fact a

survey of the students at NYU School of

medic shows that they are whiter and

wealthier than they have ever been the

result of going tuition free is that

more and more white wealthy students

applied and as a result got accepted and

got in it's also true that it's produced

0% change in the fields that students

are choosing in fact there's no increase

in students choosing less lucrative

forms of medicine they continue to go

towards more lucrative outcomes because

it's best for them financially six years

a $100 million an absolute failure but

that's not really my point I I love this

idea I mean six years ago if a

billionaire had said to me I'm thinking

about giving $100 million to a NYU

school of medicine and I'm hoping it

produces these outcomes I would have

said wow that's incredibly generous and

I totally see how you think giving that

money is going to produce these outcomes

it's a great idea it's a big swing I'm

an idea guy I love that what's

disturbing to me is now after 6 years

and clear tangible evidence that the

idea didn't work no one is willing to

admit that in fact the end of the

article quotes NYU school of medicine as

saying hey we were the first top medical

school in the country to go tuition free

and hopefully we won't be the last but

they should be the last because actually

it hasn't worked and as a leader maybe I

feel this intuitively but there's a a

problem we're coming up against as a

culture which is it's great to swing big

but we'll never really Advance or make

progress or move forward as a culture if

we can't admit it when we get it wrong

there's a lot to be learned in Failure

there's a lot to be learned in defeat

which is why we should admit both of

those when they're a reality and move

forward but especially as Christians

Listen as Christians in the church and

outside the church do we have a category

for failure are we willing to swing big

knowing that we might miss and when we

miss are we able to say we didn't get

the job done I mean look the reality is

that the Gospel of Jesus should free us

from the tyranny of having to get it

right the Gospel of Jesus says that my

worth and my value isn't in getting

every idea right it's in what God has

done for me in Jesus Christ The Gospel

of Jesus also tells me that I'm a broken

flawed sinner in need of redemption and

Grace so it follows that I probably will

get it wrong sometimes and when I do I

should be the most able to admit it now

here's the thing as Christians if we do

that two things are going to be true one

is our faith is going to shine in the

midst of a secular World which cannot

admit failure because it would be a

threat existentially to their individual

value we can show the truthfulness of

the Gospel by being willing to be the

first ones to say we're sorry we blew it

we got it wrong but second the companies

we lead the families the churches that

we lead can actually move ahead because

in admitting failure and pulling apart

why we failed we're going to figure out

what we actually need to do to get it

right listen the Gospel of Jesus should

Empower and enable you to admit when you

don't get it right and in the rubble of

that not only will you know and feel

God's love in a new way because you'll

realize God doesn't love you because

you're successful but also you will be

able to really lead can we admit failure

I sure hope so because the key to

glorifying God might be doing just that

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