In Praise of the F Word

I somewhat agree with Sherry when she made the point “a healthy fear of failure” will actually motivate students to work harder. The reason I agree with that is because one of my teachers called my parents and told them I was flunking a class and wouldn’t be able to graduate. I was devastated, and I was really struggling with that class. It was chemistry, and the teacher could care less if you knew the material or not. I had no one to help me, and none of my friends were taking the class. The thought of not graduating with my friends would have crushed me. Instead of trying and talking to the teacher, I ended up getting a chemistry tutor, and I spent hours on homework. I knew that I was smart enough to pass the class, but I just didn’t have the motivation to try hard enough until she told me that I may not graduate. I ended up passing the class with a solid B, and I had never felt more relieved. This is why I agree with what she was saying. All I needed was a little fear of failure, and that put me on track.

The reason I do not agree with her is because of what happened to half of my senior class in high school. Most of them were told that they were going to fail, and instead of trying harder, they just wondered what the point was anymore. So, they dropped out. Sure, that may be the easy way out for some people, but I understand where they are coming from. If you don’t have parents or teachers that care, then what is the point in trying to pass a class? I think that if a teacher tells a kid they are flunking then maybe they should try and help, because if a student doesn’t have support at their house, than they will look for other things to help them just pass. I thought this was a great essay, and I did enjoy reading it very much.