Education is fucking me

We all have to study more than what they had to.  Who are "they"? Your parents and mine and everyone else's and they keep talking about the hardwork that they go through, back in their days. No matter what we do, all we are required to do is get the best possible results. Someone else bettering you should never be the case. I can't do it. "Failure is the first step to sucess", I doubt it. From what i have seen so far, failure is the first step to your doom. A noticeable fact is the that I'm the best example of a hard-core pessimist. Well maybe my luck sucks but once I fail at something, its like you are done for life. Perhaps I never tried to get up from it or lets jus say that I never bothered. Criticism is all that you receive no matter what. Did I totally lose it?