The general argument made by Mary Sherry’s article, “In Praise of The ‘F’ Word”, is that most people in her class(adults) felt as if they did not achieve things inside of school that prepared them for the next level--they were just passed grade to grade, even though they were not ready. Some of her students wrote that being a good kid, and staying out of trouble caused them to get ahead--not their knowledge. Mary Sherry goes on to tell a personal example of a time where her son in the 12th grade had problems understanding the material--how she made an arrangement to try and figure how to solve that problem. The teacher only threatened to fail him with no hesitation--giving her son the choice to succeed or fail. In fact, Mary wishes more teachers
