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In Sherry's "In Praise of the F Word," what is the central issue and its importance?
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The central issue in Sherry's "In Praise of the F Word" is the failure of the educational system to ensure students learn essential skills before advancing grades. Sherry argues that the lack of "flunking" contributes to students graduating without basic literacy. She believes that failing students can serve as a motivational tool, potentially closing the achievement gap. This issue is crucial as it discusses methods to prevent educational inadequacies and illiteracy among students.
The core issue in "Praise of the F Word" is that students are not gaining as much knowledge from their education as the author, Mary Sherry, thinks is appropriate. She blames this on student's lack of attention in school and blames this lack of attention on the fact that student's aren't punished enough. To her, failing more students (rather than making changes to the ineffective educational system itself), or at least threatening to fail them, should be enough to scare kids into submission with the demands of the teachers.
This is an important issue to discuss because perspectives like these can shape the educational system. Punishment-based approaches are demonstrably poor at turning over the results that Sherry claims to seek. Without critical discussion of these issues and analysis of opinions like that of the author, it is likely that schools will become even more discipline-oriented. As this discipline orientation compounds...
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the problems it seeks to alleviate, more and more students will be blamed for what are ultimately the failings of the education system.
In Sherry's article, the central issue is how to ensure that students learn material before being passed on to the next grade.
Sherry's thesis is that our current educational system fails children when it passes them to the next grade level even though they lack the basic skills. She believes this is why some students graduate from high school even though they are illiterate. Sherry feels that this is the result of an educational system that no longer "flunks" students:
...I see a parade of students who are angry and resentful for having been passed along until they could no longer even pretend to keep up. Of average intelligence or better, they eventually quit school, concluding they were too dumb to finish. 'I should have been held back,' is a comment I hear frequently. Even sadder are those students who are high-school graduates who say to me after a few weeks of class, 'I don't know how I ever got a high-school diploma."
Sherry believes in the benefits of "flunking" students who have not mastered skills. Her central issue is that if "flunking is a regular policy," it can motivate students to "learn the material presented to them." Sherry argues that "the F word" can be a "positive teaching tool."
Sherry's central issue is an important one because it addresses the achievement gap between students who learn content and those who do not. Sherry believes that she has an answer that can help struggling students, suggesting that embracing "the F word" policy can facilitate "a dedicated, caring conspiracy between teachers and parents" and prevent students from illiteracy and disadvantage.