Analysis Of In Praise Of The F Word By Mary Sherry

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The Failures of Education
The Failures of Education
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. …show more content…

She explains how her son was just pushed through school. “Our youngest, a world-class charmer, did litter to develop his intellectual talent but always got by” (559). He got through school by being a good kid, he was quiet and didn’t get in trouble. This was how he made it to his senior year until Mrs. Stifter’s English class. Her son sat in the back of the room talking to his friends; and when Mary told her to just move him “believing the embarrassment would get him to settle down” (559) Mrs. Stifter just told her “I don’t move seniors I flunk them” (559). This opened Mary’s eyes that her son would have to actually apply himself to pass. He wouldn’t be handed a passing grade. After the meeting with her son teacher, she told her son if you don’t try you will fail, making him actually apply himself. This made Mary understand that Failure is a form of positive teaching tool. Only because her son had to work for it and, now he actually came out of high school with a form of

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