Mary Sherry In Praise Of The F Word Summary

In present times, the education system makes it easier for students to graduate with a high school diploma. The policy is to allow students a chance to not be left behind. However, there are many problems with that policy. Students may find it helpful to them while looking at a short term aspect, but long term effects could take place quicker than they believe. "In Praise of the F Word" is an essay written by Mary Sherry, in order to inform students, parents, and teachers on the issues with the education system. Sherry is a teacher that works with adult learners that have both received and not received their diplomas. She listens to a lot of students talk about their unpleasant experiences in school. The students would often mention choices

they would change and give full attention to learn in class or just being passed as a good student. Often times diplomas are given out "freely" to those whom have not learned the proper material and as a result are essentially being cheated out of basic academic skills and studies. Sherry believes establishing the act of flunking as a regular policy, can sharpen the fear of failure and can motivate students economically and/or academically. Giving the student an option to fail or pass, is the best way to convince them to dedicate their time and effort into learning.
As is evident, Sherry makes a strong clear argument for the use of failure as a motive for students.

If I were to follow her reasoning there are a few assumptions and implications. Beginning with the address of a major assumption the author makes is that every student that hasn't gained the basic skills, all lack motivation to learn them. However, other reasons for lack of basic skills could consist of personal or external issues such as family problems and mental health. It is implied that more people will establish education as a priority and dropout rate will decrease as a result. A couple consequences to this argument may include teachers overlooking other impediments as referenced to the major assumption earlier in the paragraph. Flunking may even create the same problem it is trying to prevent. With further explanation, students will learn quickly how to memorize information instead of learning the appropriate material, in order to pass the class. The outcome would not aid the situation because of a reoccurring cycle. A few strong points she made in her argument were many students don't put school first no matter their background and that they should "have a healthy fear of failure." A healthy fear of failure is using that fear as a motive to

improve.
On the other side of the argument, going against would imply that there may be better ways to deal with motivation in students. The argument brings up the topic of reward v.s punishment. A better motivator could be to reward those students that are trying hard and making immense changes in work ethics, in hopes that the students that are not putting forth the effort will eventually pull through due to seeing their peers succeed. The main consequence I thought of to go along with this stance is the risk of low motivation still ensuing. The idea that dropout rates may increase because of the increase in low self-esteem is major result to the consequence, but also another implication. If more teachers begin to fail more students, more of them with think that they are not good enough to learn. In which case, we know to be absolutely false, but not to someone that has repeatedly failed several courses.
From the viewpoint of a student, I even agree with Sherry's stance on the education system. School, just like life, is about learning from mistakes and without a “fail or pass” situation, a student cannot dedicate themselves to learning. Some kids do not give their full effort in school and still get passed along to the next grade which is unfair to them and to the students who did the work. If more teachers threatened to fail students and actually followed through on the threat, students would work harder and do better in the courses they are enrolled in. Personally I made it through grade school fairly easily. I graduated with honors and dual enrollment credit. I constantly had the fear of failure on my mind because I knew it was the best motivator for me. Everyone has different ways to motivate oneself, but there would be an immense impact over the population that is in school.
After reading the essay, it opened my mind to the act of "flunking." As a student, I never wanted a teacher that threatened to fail people easily, but I also learned quickly that it pushed me to work harder. I still use the same policy in my college courses today. For Mary Sherry and I, failure can sharpen the fear of failure and can motivate students to obtain essential academic skills.