Brits no longer to be considered failures

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A proposal by a group of teachers in Britain suggests banning the word "fail" in classrooms, advocating for the term "deferred success" to prevent demoralization among students. This idea has sparked significant debate, with many expressing concerns that it undermines the importance of acknowledging failure as a motivator for improvement. Critics argue that such changes reflect a broader trend of political correctness in education, where negative feedback is minimized to avoid hurting students' feelings. Discussions highlight the necessity of teaching students the reality of failure to prepare them for real-world challenges, contrasting current educational practices with past approaches that emphasized accountability and rigorous standards. The conversation also touches on various grading systems and the implications of avoiding traditional assessments, suggesting that this trend may lead to mediocrity in educational outcomes. Overall, the debate underscores a tension between fostering a supportive learning environment and maintaining high academic standards.
  • #31
wow. this is rediculous. I don't really remember elementary school being too mean on report cards. But in high school it was completely different. teachers did pretty much whatever they wanted. my tech teacher always swore, calling us f'ing idiots if we screwed something up. On the exam I wrote a little joke and he said he was going to give me 100% cause it was funny, and some other student was like, hey that's not fair, you can't do that. and the teacher responds, shut up, I can do whatever the hell I want.
I remember on our report cards just last semester, not on mine, it said "you wrote a very poor exam" I thought that was kinda mean. but what can you do, the teachers seem to do what they want here.
 
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  • #32
Why couldn't they do that when i was back at school? I would prefer to have defered my english exam.
 
  • #33
I've been in 3 different types of school.

When I was young my father was in the Army and so I went to an army school. I loved school then (almost all subjects) and then, when he left the army I joined a civilian school which sucked. RE was just writing out the bible and I hated it. Pupils messed around in class which never happened in the Army school and I hated that. Math was about 6 months to a year behind that of army school education so it appeared that I was a 'swot' which I hated so in the end I just gave up school.

This 'PR' trend is just a further decline in the standards of education. How can the pupil address a problem if the teacher isn't allowed to tell the pupil in case 'it hurts their feelings'.

The third type of schooling was an Army Apprentice College (pre-army education) where I spent 2 years studying Electronic Engineering and the difference is extreme. Failure isn't an option. Any failure results in a proportionate punishment. If you don't want to get punished...don't fail.

It was drilled into us that if we fail then people can die as a result. It certainly seemed brutal at the time but it's probably one of the main reasons why the British have the best trained army in the world. The possibility of failure is smashed out of the soldiers psyche.
 
  • #34
It would've been sweet if I could've simply deferred AP Calculus instead of Failing it by sleeping through it and not doing any work for the last 3 months of school.
 

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