“In Praise of the “F” Word”
Mary Sherry makes some great points in her essay about the "F" word. Sherry starts out by giving us a great argument about the failure of children in schools. Sherry’s thesis was “Tens of thousands of 18-year-olds will graduate this year and be handed meaningless diplomas.” Sherry uses the idioms like, “Meaningless diplomas” and “Their validity will be questioned”. This gives us as the reader evidence that an argument exists.
Those students with meaningless diplomas are the ones who have been cruising along even though they do not truly understand the materials that were taught to them. Those students that plainly do not understand the material taught to them make excuses. Teachers see these student’s excuses as a lack of attention and fail those students but instead all those students needed were a bit of guidance. It takes a teacher's involvement to understand, not a teacher's threat. Sherry argues that our educational system is to blame for cheating those students out of a proper education.
I agree with Sherry that it is unfair to those students cheat...
It’s no surprise that there are faults within our schools in today’s society. As both authors’ point out if our educational system is
no excitement. regardless of what the teacher says, this is not a new challenge"(158). Rose shows how he felt abut his early high school as his teacher were supposed to be teaching exciting subject, but ruin subject by just reading out from the book. making it harder for any to really pay attention in class. " No wonder how so many student finally attribute their difficulties to something inborn, organic: That part of my brain just doesn 't work"(158). Rose state that student 's in the vocational education program having already lost interest in classes they try so hard to contemplate with, instead they decide to move on and blame their inability to learn for the reason they can 't understand what the teacher is teaching them. "They open their textbook and see once again the familiar and impenetrable formulas and diagrams and terms that have stumped them for years"(157). From the beginning of their high year the student in the vocational educational program were set to fail. The school treated them as experiment by placing them into class room with inexperience teacher or not caring teacher. where they have to either decided to go with what the school says or try as best they can to well in the
When it comes to education, it is about helping people discover, refine, and develop their gifts, talents, passions and abilities; and then helping them discover how to use those gifts, talents, abilities in ways that benefit others and oneself (Bull, 2015). However, with education, there are many places where this does not happen and learners may fall between the cracks. Schools are heavily measured on testing, student outcomes and student numbers that it has become the main focus to excel the school district—but what about the students? I recall a time where I was sitting in a classroom and the teacher was going over a math lesson. Many students struggled and were having a difficult time following along with the task. The teacher started
Our education system is failing and in his essay “What Our Education System Needs Is More F’s” Carl Singleton writes that nothing else will right the ship or fix this issue except for his proposed solution which is to simply fail more students. As a matter of fact “by the dozens, hundreds, thousands, even millions” (Singleton 1) is how he describes the failing grades should be distributed. He claims that illegitimately passing students has existed for the past two decades and even implies that it stems further back than that with many teachers in the school system today “who never should have been certified in the first place.”(Singleton 1).
Benton uses the article to persuade educators and professors not to give up on the students and to try to protect those students that do want to learn: “I have become convinced that professors -- particularly the ones with tenure -- need to find ways to give remedial attention to student behavior, just as they have long done for students who cannot read or write well enough to succeed at college.” Furthermore, the article evaluates the problems and gets to the real cause of the lack of care and
In John Gatto’s essay “Against Schools” he states from experience as a school teacher that are current educational system is at fault (148). He claims that classrooms are often filled with boredom manufactured by repetitive class work and unenthusiastic teachings. Students are not actively engaged and challenged by their work and more often than not they have either already covered the concepts taught in class or they just do not understand what is being taught to them. The children contained in classrooms have come to believe that their teachers are not all that knowledgeable about the subjects that they are teaching and this advances their apathy towards education. The teachers also feel disadvantaged while fulfilling their roles as teachers because the students often bring rude and careless attitudes to class. Teachers often wish to change the curriculums that are set for students in order to create a more effective lesson plan, but they are restricted by strict regulations and consequences that bind them to their compulsory teachings (148-149). An active illustration of John Gatto’s perspective on our educational system can be found in Mike Rose’s essay “I Just Wanna Be Average” (157). Throughout this piece of literature the author Mike Rose describes the kind of education he received while undergoing teachings in the vocational track. During Mike’s vocational experiences he was taught by teachers that were inexperienced and poorly trained in the subjects they taught. As a result, their lesson plan and the assignments they prepared for class were not designed to proficiently teach students anything practical. For example, the curriculum of Mike Rose’s English class for the entire semester consisted of the repeated reading of ...
When students arrive at university, professors expect them to understand the material to an exceptional standard. The problem is that grade inflation is occurring more regularly in secondary schools and universities across the country and when these students’ marks are sent to universities or colleges, the student may be given multiple scholarships for something that he/she should not have earned. Grade inflation is conceived between both students and teachers, meaning that the students are given higher grades when they have inadequate learning, reading, and verbal skills, while the teachers do not have to grade as many papers as they should in the real curriculum. There have been multiple examinations that have confirmed that grade inflation is very real and still occurs today. Students seem to think that they do not need to put forth much effort in school to do well and grade inflation encourages this thought.
There is perhaps no greater joy in life than finding one’s soul mate. Once found, there is possibly no greater torment than being forced to live without them. This is the conflict that Paul faces from the moment he falls in love with Agnes. His devotion to the church and ultimately God are thrown into the cross hairs with the only possible outcome being one of agonizing humiliation. Grazia Deledda’s The Mother presents the classic dilemma of having to choose between what is morally right and being true to one’s own heart. Paul’s inability to choose one over the other consumes his life and everyone in it.
One’s identity is influenced by many things. It’s something that one has a choice of what he wants to become. One has a personal choice as to what identity he possesses; for instance, he can choose what he likes, who he wishes to be friends with, and what he wears. After all, “Fashion is an expression of personal identity” (Latterell 11). Queen Latifah states, “All things start inside your soul and work outward” meaning that it is one’s choice as to what he lets work its way out (Latifah 34). People have even made personal choices that affect their identity by changing their name. Just as Firoozeh Dumas describes in The “F Word”, “Thus I started sixth grade with my new, easy name and life became infinitely simpler” (Dumas 86). People made fun of Dumas’ name, Firoozeh, and thus made her want to change her name to fit in; she changed her identity. An identity is mainly comprised of personal choice.
In the article “In praise of the “F” Word” Mary Sherry discusses the “F” word, which means failure. Basically Mary Sherry stated that the kids of today are getting cheated out of a good education. They are passing through the school system because some are good kids and they do not create any problems in the classroom. But, at the same time employers are also being cheated because they expect graduates to have the basic skills. She also stated that Diplomas are considered meaningless because most of these kids who were awarded one could not read or write properly and therefore, they are back in night school along with adults who are trying to get their G.E.D.
Many high school students do not want to hear the words, “you are going to fail”, but as will be seen that is exactly what they need to hear. In the article, “In Praise of the ‘F’ Word”, Mary Sherry states that students are not getting a good education and teachers should enforce the “F” word, meaning flunk. Sherry argues that students, especially high school seniors, are not getting the proper education they need to succeed, as many do not have the basic academic skills and are not well informed about those skills needed for their lives after high school. Furthermore, teachers should introduce the “F” word to their students and give them the realization of their future being in their hands.
The name of this essay is “In Praise of the F Word” by Mary Sherry. It’s about how the education system has failed. How it just pushes students through to graduation, without them actually learning the material. This is an argumentative essay. The purpose is for Mary to explain to her audience; of teachers, parents, and students, that “We must review the threat of flunking and see it as it really is- a positive teaching tool” (560). The context of this essay is “Tens of thousands of eighteen-year-olds will graduate this year and be handed meaningless diplomas” (559).This essay is a successful argumentative essay Because of her appeal to reason threw the examples form her sons’ story, her students’ stories, and how the education system fails in general.
Giving students a grade that they have not earned hinders the youth’s future educational success. A number of schools are no longer giving a grade of zero on assignments, tests, and exams completed by students. While other school districts continue to give students the grade that is adequate for the work they have done or have not completed. Giving students the grade that equals their work is designed to show students where they need to improve. Many school boards want to stop giving out zeros for work that hasn’t been turned in and give a grade that rages around the “D” area keeping children from falling behind in their classes. By allowing student to pass through the school system the educational board is raising their graduation and success
In conclusion, education is broader than just falling into what the contemporary school system has to offer. Both Gatto and Graff proved this by explain how conforming students to certain perspectives of education limits their potential in other educational branches that interest the students. Also, curricula should bring a balance between making a school a place for obtaining information, and accommodating the educational demands for each individual student. It is imperative to understand that reforming the academic system, by fine-tuning schools to have its students learn what exactly they are interested in, will lead to having students accessing their full intellectual potential.
Education is meant to be the key to a successful life. It is supposed to inspire great ideas, and prepare each and every generation for their future. However, school for today 's generation fails to meet those requirements. Every student knows education is important, but when school is not engaging or in some cases, even relevant, it makes learning difficult. Improving the school system is something educators attempt to accomplish every year. Despite their best efforts, there are numerous flaws students see, but adults overlook. There is a lack of diversity for students to learn, an overabundance of testing, and students’ voices are being ignored on how to create a more productive learning experience.