ENG 100-20 Task 3-Response to Blog, Mary Sherry’s, “In Praise of the F Word” (pg .215-216)

Chayse J. Adams

ENG: 100-20

10-28-2010

Response to Blog, Mary Sherry’s, “In Praise of the F Word” (pg .215-216)

Like in Mary Sherry’s, “In Praise of the F Word”, I too agree that the fear of flunking can be very motivational in school, and should be actually enforced in our public schools. Mary says that threatening to flunk students used to be a very effective was to motivate students to try harder and put out some effort because they knew that their teachers would actually do it if need be. Anymore the threat of flunking a student doesn’t hold much authority in a classroom because the students believe that their teachers wouldn’t do that to them and for the most part, they’re rite. No matter the case or circumstances, teachers not flunking students who do not deserve to pass aren’t doing those students any favors, they are actually crippling them. When they advance they will not have the needed knowledge to succeed, forcing the next teacher to make a decision of flunking or passing the student.

I always had enough motivation in my classes to complete all my work and learn the necessary information, but when my senior year rolled around and I had to take personal finance first semester and government second semester and that was the only way I could fit them in my schedule and if I failed one or the other I didn’t get to graduate, I was on them books like glue! The real threat of not graduating with all my friends and walking across the stage with my buddies a proud young man was terrifying! I probably would have done fine even if it didn’t matter, but the fact that it did, drove me to be the best student I possibly could have in those classes. I took it so much more seriously. We had a really fun teacher, who really cared and was just an inspiring and motivational teacher. He was so funny and we all loved him. He somehow managed to get everyone involved every class period, no matter how boring the topic, but he was one of those guys that when it came down to it, he would, and then like magic, it would rub on to us, and we got down to business! If all my classes and teachers could do that I would probably be able to become the president of the U.S. but being realistic, if all my teachers would enforce the Fail policy if a student didn’t deserve to proceed to the next level, would suck, but really be an effective tool to motivate students to get their heads in the game and really take classes seriously. This policy, just as a side note, would probably help solve a lot of other problems in classrooms such as tardiness, truancy, horseplay, and the list would probably go on and on due to the fact that students would have to focus on their work and school much harder and they would lack the time and want to do drugs and form gangs and fight and other things that cripple the development of many young students in our schools these days.