"In Praise of the F Word" Argument

According to, In Praise of the F Word, by Mary Sherry tens of thousands will graduate high school with meaningless diplomas. Those with meaningless diplomas are the ones who's been passing along even though they don't truly understand the materials taught to them. Sherry argues that our educational system is to blame for cheating those students out of a proper education; however, an easy remedy is for teachers to use the trump card of failure. Sherry claims that before students can concentrate, the teacher needs to get their attention first. I agree with Sherry that it's unfair to those student cheated by our educational system but her trump card of failure doesn't solve the problem. Instead, it feels more like a threat to the student than a motivation. Her method is incompatible for all students because all student are different and it takes a teacher's involvement to understand, not a teacher's threat.

Sherry used blame the student's lack of concentration to the class but instead she now blames the failure to get the student's attention. No matter what distraction are at hand for the student, the teacher needs to get the student's attention first. Sherry states that there are many ways to do this depending on the teaching style but one sure way is the trump card of failure. She points out an example of her son who was lacking attention in class and then received the trump card of failure. It resulted in her son finishing the semester with an A. I feel like Sherry's argument is incomplete. She doesn't acknowledge that all students are different, and that some come from a more rugged background than others. Different students need to be treated differently, so one method will not work on all students. For example, there are students that plainly do not understand the material taught to them so instead they make excuses. Teachers will see the student’s excuse as a lack of attention and fail that student but instead all that student needs is a bit of guidance.