AP Success - AP English Language: The Trump Card of Failure

As I teach, I learn a lot about our schools. Early in each

session I ask my students to write about an unpleasant

experience they had in school. No writers’ block here! “I

wish someone would have had made me stop doing drugs

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and made me study.” “I liked to party and no one seemed to

care.” “I was a good kid and didn’t cause any trouble, so they

just passed me along even though I didn’t read and couldn’t

write.” And so on.

I am your basic do-gooder, and prior to teaching this

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class I blamed the poor academic skills our kids have today

on drugs, divorce and other impediments to concentration

necessary for doing well in school. But, as I rediscover each

time I walk into the classroom, before a teacher can expect

students to concentrate, he has to get their attention, no

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matter what distractions may be at hand. There are many

ways to do this, and they have much to do with teaching

style. However, if style alone won’t do it, there is another

way to show who holds the winning hand in the classroom.

That is to reveal the trump card of failure.

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I will never forget a teacher who played that card to get

the attention of one of my children. Our youngest, a world

class charmer, did little to develop his intellectual talents but

always got by. Until Mrs. Stifter.

Our son was a high-school senior when he had her for

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English. “He sits in the back of the room talking to his

friends,” she told me. “Why don’t you move him to the front

row?” I urged, believing the embarrassment would get him

to settle down. Mrs. Stifter looked at me steely-eyed over her

glasses.”I don’t move seniors,” she said. “I flunk them.” I was

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flustered. Our son’s academic life flashed before my eyes. No

teacher had ever threatened him with that before. I regained

my composure and managed to say that I thought she was

right. By the time I got home I was feeling pretty good about

this. It was a radical approach for these times, but, well,

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why not? “She’s going to flunk you,” I told my son. I did not

discuss it any further. Suddenly English became a priority in

his life. He finished out the semester with an A.

I know one example doesn’t make a case, but at night

I see a parade of students who are angry and resentful for

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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 highschool graduates who say to me after a few weeks of class, “I

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don’t know how I ever got a high-school diploma.”

Passing students who have not mastered the work cheats

them and the employers who expect graduates to have basic

skills. We excuse this dishonest behavior by saying kids

can’t learn if they come from terrible environments. No one

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seems to stop to think that—no matter what environments

they come from—most kids don’t put school first on their list

unless they perceive something is at stake. They’d rather be

sailing….

Flunking as a regular policy has just as much merit today

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as it did two generations ago. We must review the threat

of flunking and see it as it really is—a positive teaching

tool. It is an expression of confidence by both teachers and

parents that the students have the ability to learn the material

presented to them. However, making it work again would

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take a dedicated, caring conspiracy between teachers and

parents. It would mean facing the tough reality that passing

kids who haven’t learned the material—while it might save

them grief for the short term—dooms them to longterm

illiteracy.