Mary Sherry / In Praise of the F Word 97
In Praise of the F Word
MARY SHERRY
Mary Sherry is a writer and adult literacy educator. This selection, “In Praise of
the ‘F’ Word,” originally appeared in Newsweek magazine’s My Turn column.
1 Tens of thousands of 18-year-olds will graduate this year and be
handed meaningless diplomas. These diplomas won’t look any dif-
ferent from those awarded their luckier classmates. Their validity will
be questioned only when their employers discover that these gradu-
ates are semiliterate.
2 Eventually a fortunate few will find their way into educational-
repair shops—adult-literacy programs, such as the one where I teach
basic grammar and writing. There, high-school graduates and high-
school dropouts pursuing graduate-equivalency certificates will
learn the skills they should have learned in school. They will also
discover they have been cheated by our educational system.
3 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 and made me study.” “I liked to party and
no one seemed to care.” “I was a good kid and didn’t cause any trou-
ble, so they just passed me along even though I didn’t read well and
couldn’t write.” And so on.
4 I am your basic do-gooder, and prior to teaching this 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, be-
fore a teacher can expect students to concentrate, he has to get their
attention, no 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.
5 I will never forget a teacher who played that card to get the atten-
tion 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.
6 Our son was a high-school senior when he had her for 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 embar-
rassment 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 flustered. Our son’s academic life flashed before my eyes.
No teacher had ever threatened him with that before. I regained my
98 3 / Viewpoints on Acquiring Knowledge
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, 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.
7 I know one example doesn’t make a case, but at night I see a pa-
rade 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 com-
ment 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.”
8 Passing students who have not mastered the work cheats them
and the employers who expect graduates to have basic skills. We ex-
cuse this dishonest behavior by saying kids can’t learn if they come
from terrible environments. No one 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.
9 Many students I see at night could give expert testimony on un-
employment, chemical dependency, abusive relationships. In spite
of these difficulties, they have decided to make education a priority.
They are motivated by the desire for a better job or the need to hang
on to the one they’ve got. They have a healthy fear of failure.
10 People of all ages can rise above their problems, but they need to
have a reason to do so. Young people generally don’t have the matu-
rity to value education in the same way my adult students value it. But
fear of failure, whether economic or academic, can motivate both.
11 Flunking as a regular policy has just as much merit today 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 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 long-term illiteracy. It would mean that teachers would have to
follow through on their threats, and parents would have to stand be-
hind them, knowing their children’s best interests are indeed at stake.
This means no more doing Scott’s assignments for him because he
might fail. No more passing Jodi because she’s such a nice kid.
12 This is a policy that worked in the past and can work today. A wise
teacher, with the support of his parents, gave our son the opportunity
to succeed—or fail. It’s time we return this choice to all students.
