During  a workshop  discussion of the  revised report cards, a  principal questioned why teachers give Fs.   Identifying  two “failure” stories—the lazy student and the slow learner—I sent him this…

 JUST  WHO  IS  “FAILING”  WHOM  HERE?

Last week I couldn’t hail your
Soft views on student failure:

“How could you even dream of
Destroying self-esteem of
The kids within your classes
By giving F’s not passes?”

You seemed to be appealing
For us to safeguard feeling.
If we are to be screening
Report cards for their meaning,
We need to do debunking
On what it means—this “flunking.”

 
There are two “failure” stories—
Two basic categories.
Let’s look at the first student,
A kind not very prudent:
There are some kids who fake it;
Their tests and grades don’t make it.
It doesn’t take much spying
To spot one who’s not trying.
We surely need to nail them,
Come right out and fail them.
To simply pass these pupils
Would show we have no scruples.

 But now we need to reckon
With “failure” type the second.
Some kids can’t earn their passes,
Despite best tries in classes.
And some of them aren’t able
to learn the math facts table.
To soothe the feelings busted,
We give out grades “adjusted.”
Not wanting to harass them,
We shrug and simply pass them.

But why have we denied them,
And caused such pain inside them?
We must look at the system
That causes us to miss them:
We merely push slow learner
Away onto back burners.

 They must not be forsaken.
We should not be mistaken:
We need to keep a balance
Between our tasks/their talents.
Let’s give them education
Without all the frustration.
Whom do we think we’re fooling
In giving them wrong schooling?
The cause of all their doom’s clear:
Just who is "failing" whom here?