Mary Sherry In Praise Of The F Word Analysis

In the essay "In Praise of the F word" from the book Models for Writers, Mary Sherry argues that failing or flunking students is a positive teaching tool. She poses a strong argument by saying that failing a student expresses the confidence that teachers and parents have on the ability of a student to pass the presented material. According to Sherry, passing students who have not mastered the presented material cheats both the student and the employers. At times, teachers and parents make it too easy for students to go through the education system by not making real their threats. In agreement with Sherry’s argument, I believe that the education system is not failing students as it is supposed to and this in turn undermines the educational, career and personal growth of students. …show more content…
She says that while tens of thousands of high school students graduate every year, most of them acquire meaningless diplomas. This is because the education system is not equipping students with the needed skills and knowledge. Sherry says that in order for students to concentrate in class, they should be attentive. In addition, she says that most teachers pass students who have not mastered the presented material in order to save them from short term grief or because a student is very nice. Even though this does have a direct effect on students, it hurts them later in life by causing long-term illiteracy. Furthermore, this behavior is dishonest as it cheats students and makes them not to have a reason to address their learning problems. In order to address this issue, failing or flunking can be used as a positive learning tool to encourage learning (Rosa and Paul