Failing student? Just coddle, coddle, coddle
According to a recent article in Great Britain's Herald, a group of teachers wants to delete the word "fail" from the school vocabulary and cloak it with the term "deferred success." Being told they are a failure in class can put children off education for life, they believe.
The idea will be put forward next week by members of the Professional Association of Teachers, one of the smaller teaching unions, at its annual conference at Buxton, Derbyshire.
Now I know what you're thinking -- "But B2, B2, they are British teachers and not American! You don't think that would ever happen here, do you?" Not so fast, my friends. According to Liz Beattie, a retired primary teacher, "Some children who struggle with academic subjects needed help to find success in other areas, such as work-related courses." Mrs Beattie and a colleague, Wesley Paxton, will propose abolishing the word "fail" in a motion which, if passed, would mean it becomes union policy.
These very same words have been used in teacher union national conferences more than once right here in the good ol' U.S. of A. Many American New Age wing nut teachers now believe that it is time to delete the word fail from the educational vocabulary, to be replaced with a concept that defies description or logic.
These people equate failure as a dirty word and don't understand the importance of occasional failure in proper, normal child development. Of all people, even wacky Truman Capote never agreed with such a wacky concept. Failure, he said, was the condiment that gives success its flavor. Take it away and life could be as tasteless as school dinners. If life was all happiness, all success, and without disappointment, the wing nuts would have a point.
But guess what? Life ain't fair and you don't always win. Teach our kids to learn from their setbacks so that they don't give up when faced with adversity in life.
Their ultimate successes will be that much sweeter.