What Our Education System Needs Is More F's Summary

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What the “F”
According to Carl Singleton, author of the article, “What Our Education System Needs Is More F’s”, many of the problems plaguing the American educational system could be solved if teachers would begin to give failing grades to students who deserve them. He attributes the practice of inappropriate grade assignment on poorly educated teachers, uninvolved parents, and an ineffective administration; in addition, he contends that until educators begin to liberally disperse the grade of F to all of the students who deserve them, no other reform will work. He believes that widespread distribution of F grades will result in teachers, parents, and the educational system, taking responsibility for the failure to educate America’s youth. Examination of Singleton’s article reveals his …show more content…

One reason to disagree with Singleton is because his argument for massive distribution of F grades is, unsubstantiated, untested, and therefore, short sighted. He contends that handing out F grades to a majority of the student body will somehow hold teachers and parents accountable, yet, he offers no evidence to support such claims. In a situation where many students receive failing grades, there is no evidence to support that teachers and parents would possess the resources to implement the new curriculum necessary for the children to bring their grades up. In fact, Singleton offers no evidence at all. As Wendy Kopp points out in her article “Do American Schools Need to Change?”, there are many differing ideas on how to fix the American education system; some

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