Eliminating Failure

I read this report from the UK:

Teachers Suggest Changing 'Fail' to 'Deferred Success'

LONDON (July 19) - The word "fail" should be banned from use in British classrooms and replaced with the phrase "deferred success" to avoid demoralizing pupils, a group of teachers has proposed.

Members of the Professional Association of Teachers (PAT) argue that telling pupils they have failed can put them off learning for life.

A spokesman for the group said it wanted to avoid labeling children. "We recognize that children do not necessarily achieve success first time," he said.

"But I recognize that we can't just strike a word from the dictionary," he said.

The PAT said it would debate the proposal at a conference next week.

07/19/05 16:23 ET


Hmmm...How can we keep students from failing?
Better teaching? Naw...Too hard. Besides, it takes too long and costs too much.
Why don't we just eliminate the word?
Problem solved.