Seeking a kinder word for failure

[stephanie]

:poke:

Schools' morale front and center
Email|Print|Single Page| Text size – + By Tracy Jan
Globe Staff / March 22, 2008
To soothe the bruised egos of educators and children in lackluster schools, Massachusetts officials are now pushing for kinder, gentler euphemisms for failure.

Instead of calling these schools "underperforming," the Board of Education is considering labeling them as "Commonwealth priority," to avoid poisoning teacher and student morale.

Schools in the direst straits, now known as "chronically underperforming," would get the more urgent but still vague label of "priority one."

The board has spent parts of more than three meetings in recent months debating the linguistic merits and tone set by the terms after a handful of superintendents from across the state complained that the label underperforming unfairly casts blame on educators, hinders the recruitment of talented teachers, and erodes students' self-esteem.


read the rest..
http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/mcas/articles/2008/03/22/seeking_a_kinder_word_for_failure/?page=full

[hjmick]

How about "loser?"

[manu1959]

How about "loser?"

as my dad used to say ...... "son the world needs ditch diggers"

[hjmick]

as my dad used to say ...... "son the world needs ditch diggers"

My grandfather's brother got rich digging ditches. It's an honorable job.

[diuretic]

What about "in need of improvement"?

[hjmick]

What about "in need of improvement"?

Oh well Hell, I didn't know we were going to take this seriously. They could try "substandard." Or "less than successful."

Here are some more...

How about disappointment, letdown, catastrophe, bomb, fiasco, disaster, botch, miscarriage, flop, breakdown, stoppage, malfunction, crash, collapse, bankruptcy, crash, collapse, or ruin?

[Abbey Marie]

They're either going to hear failure now, or experience it later.

[manu1959]

They're either going to hear failure now, or experience it later.

the govt' will bail them out....not to worry....

[Hobbit]

I prefer the opposite approach. What we need is something so humiliating and degrading to call these schools that students and teachers both would do everything up to and including whoring themselves out on the street to get their standards back up. Maybe we could call them dunce barns, McDonald's training centers, or go straight for the jugular by referring to all failing institutions as 'everyone who sets foot inside this building likes the movie 'Gigli' and listens to ska.' If we could set aside some sensitivities, we might even get away with calling them concentration camps, but to be honest, I WANT morale to be low. If you're failing, you better have low morale, and maybe instead of whining about it, you could pull your head out of your sphincter and stop asking, 'What word can be used to soften to blow,' and instead ask, 'Why am I such a miserable failure that fruit flies score higher than me on tests?' The fact that any of these morons can even make it to a school building without impaling their ovaries on a toothpick amazes me.

[diuretic]

Oh well Hell, I didn't know we were going to take this seriously. They could try "substandard." Or "less than successful."

Here are some more...

How about disappointment, letdown, catastrophe, bomb, fiasco, disaster, botch, miscarriage, flop, breakdown, stoppage, malfunction, crash, collapse, bankruptcy, crash, collapse, or ruin?


I wasn't suggesting we write a Thesaurus, just keeping it in the context of education - think of it as formative assessment rather than summative assessment:D

[diuretic]

They're either going to hear failure now, or experience it later.

It's the institution that's being described is it not? Well I thought it was.

But anyway, as easy a subject to mock as it is, would you like a child to be labelled a "failure"? I'm thinking of labeling (using the American spelling) theory here. I prefer to think of people as "not achieving their full potential".

Call me soft but I think using harsh labels on kids at an early age is going to be a case of self-fulfilling prophecy.

[diuretic]

I prefer the opposite approach. What we need is something so humiliating and degrading to call these schools that students and teachers both would do everything up to and including whoring themselves out on the street to get their standards back up. Maybe we could call them dunce barns, McDonald's training centers, or go straight for the jugular by referring to all failing institutions as 'everyone who sets foot inside this building likes the movie 'Gigli' and listens to ska.' If we could set aside some sensitivities, we might even get away with calling them concentration camps, but to be honest, I WANT morale to be low. If you're failing, you better have low morale, and maybe instead of whining about it, you could pull your head out of your sphincter and stop asking, 'What word can be used to soften to blow,' and instead ask, 'Why am I such a miserable failure that fruit flies score higher than me on tests?' The fact that any of these morons can even make it to a school building without impaling their ovaries on a toothpick amazes me.

What if that reinforces their low performance? As in, "okay mofo, you want us to be failures? We be failures then!"

[Abbey Marie]

It's the institution that's being described is it not? Well I thought it was.

But anyway, as easy a subject to mock as it is, would you like a child to be labelled a "failure"? I'm thinking of labeling (using the American spelling) theory here. I prefer to think of people as "not achieving their full potential".

Call me soft but I think using harsh labels on kids at an early age is going to be a case of self-fulfilling prophecy.

I happen to think in most cases, the failure is on the part of the parents, not the students or the school. Parents who do not instill the value of education, parents who act irresponsibly themselves, etc. Schools can only work with what walks through the door, and for many years, the parents are mainly responsible for that.

[manu1959]

I happen to think in most cases, the failure is on the part of the parents, not the students or the school. Parents who do not instill the value of education, the parents who act irresponsibly themselves, etc. Schools can only work with what walks through the door, and for many years, the parents are mainly responsible for that.

and there are those that will argue that the system and society has failed the parents and thus it is the govt responsibilty to take care of everyone.....

[Abbey Marie]

and there are those that will argue that the system and society has failed the parents and thus it is the govt responsibilty to take care of everyone.....

Yes, we can always find someone to argue in favor of irresponsibilty and poor excuses.

[Dilloduck]

Yes, we can always find someone to argue in favor of irresponsibilty and poor excuses.

pssssssssst-----MFM---that's your cue !!!! :coffee:

[manu1959]

Yes, we can always find someone to argue in favor of irresponsibilty and poor excuses.

two presidential candidates are doing just that......

[JohnDoe]

two presidential candidates are doing just that......
don't fool yourself, 3 of them are....not just 2...:laugh2:

jd

[manu1959]

don't fool yourself, 3 of them are....not just 2...:laugh2:

jd

mccain is not quite hillary or obama.....

[diuretic]

I happen to think in most cases, the failure is on the part of the parents, not the students or the school. Parents who do not instill the value of education, parents who act irresponsibly themselves, etc. Schools can only work with what walks through the door, and for many years, the parents are mainly responsible for that.

Quite true. After all as children we learn from our parents even when we're pre-verbal, humans are wired to learn from modelled behaviour, whatever they're up to we'll learn from it. And for mine that means that a negative cycle of parenting has to be broken and even before people become parents they need to have done that.

[diuretic]

Yes, we can always find someone to argue in favor of irresponsibilty and poor excuses.

That'd be a pretty tough brief to work with.

[mrg666]

They're either going to hear failure now, or experience it later.

fact is they are failing the children , call it what it is may be some incentive to sort it out.
the same thing happens here in the uk

[No1tovote4]

:poke:

Schools' morale front and center
Email|Print|Single Page| Text size – + By Tracy Jan
Globe Staff / March 22, 2008
To soothe the bruised egos of educators and children in lackluster schools, Massachusetts officials are now pushing for kinder, gentler euphemisms for failure.

Instead of calling these schools "underperforming," the Board of Education is considering labeling them as "Commonwealth priority," to avoid poisoning teacher and student morale.

Schools in the direst straits, now known as "chronically underperforming," would get the more urgent but still vague label of "priority one."

The board has spent parts of more than three meetings in recent months debating the linguistic merits and tone set by the terms after a handful of superintendents from across the state complained that the label underperforming unfairly casts blame on educators, hinders the recruitment of talented teachers, and erodes students' self-esteem.


read the rest..
http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/mcas/articles/2008/03/22/seeking_a_kinder_word_for_failure/?page=full
I suggest, "Total Collapse and Decay" It sounds far nicer than "failure".

[Monkeybone]

Failure: When your best just isn't good enough.

[Monkeybone]

They're either going to hear failure now, or experience it later.

this is also my point of view. you coddle these kids when they are young and they don't learn that sometimes...in the real world, you fail. you can fail big time. now i ain't all for making kids feel bad, but to me it is better to teach them to deal young than to shove them out into the realy world and go "Surprise! everything really doesn't end with a hug or trophy!"

[diuretic]

this is also my point of view. you coddle these kids when they are young and they don't learn that sometimes...in the real world, you fail. you can fail big time. now i ain't all for making kids feel bad, but to me it is better to teach them to deal young than to shove them out into the realy world and go "Surprise! everything really doesn't end with a hug or trophy!"

But if you want to change that world so that it's not "nature red in tooth and claw", shouldn't you start somewhere? You know, we make that world, it's just a synonym for "society". If you want a society where there are ten winners to a million losers then fine, keep reproducing it, but if you want a society where there's fairness and justice and people aren't labelled as "winners" or "losers" but people, then you'll do something about it now and you'll make sure the kids understand it.

If humans only reproduced society then we'd still be huddling in caves. Someone though saw the chance for change, for improvement and they showed their kids that chance for change.

[Monkeybone]

But if you want to change that world so that it's not "nature red in tooth and claw", shouldn't you start somewhere? You know, we make that world, it's just a synonym for "society". If you want a society where there are ten winners to a million losers then fine, keep reproducing it, but if you want a society where there's fairness and justice and people aren't labelled as "winners" or "losers" but people, then you'll do something about it now and you'll make sure the kids understand it.

If humans only reproduced society then we'd still be huddling in caves. Someone though saw the chance for change, for improvement and they showed their kids that chance for change.

understandable. if i gave that impression i am sorry.

IMO, we are almost to that point, where eveyone is the same but yet there are still a few that stand out. no matter how far you progress in a society it will always be that way. atleast until we hit a point of almost perfection, where we almost wouldn't even need a gov anymore since eveyone would he holding hands ;)

but at the same time, i just see it as that you can't have everyone think that it will be ok and there is absolutely no chance of failing. i am not saying that you need make them feel like shit and then tell them to grow some thicker skin. it would almost have to be an age progression sorta thing. but i still see High Schoolers that passed cause "you don't want them too feel bad by failing". I see sixth graders with spelling and grammar that is horrible. and most of it is because you don't want them to feel bad or stupid. doing that to kids does nohting to help them. some survive and pul themselves up and accomplish things. others don't.

i want a society where there is a realistic outlook on life and if a little bit of hardship comes along, then they won't freak out and quit.

[Dilloduck]

this is also my point of view. you coddle these kids when they are young and they don't learn that sometimes...in the real world, you fail. you can fail big time. now i ain't all for making kids feel bad, but to me it is better to teach them to deal young than to shove them out into the realy world and go "Surprise! everything really doesn't end with a hug or trophy!"

When you take away ANYONE'S failures you deny them the chance to learn. It's cruel and ingorant to think that peopel cannot recover from any kind of loss, learn from it and go on to bigger and better things. How many times do we have to see this play out over and over again in, as Monkey says "the REAL WORLD ". If you are going to prepare someone for something that doesn't exist you may as well save your time and money and not prepare them at all. It would be one less thing they have to unlearn and be angry about.

[No1tovote4]

Why don't we just call those schools "The Democrats"?

:laugh2:

[Hobbit]

What if that reinforces their low performance? As in, "okay mofo, you want us to be failures? We be failures then!"

Then let the little pukes rot in failure. I have no sympathy for people too stupid to help themselves. Maybe when those brats have 17 kids and have to support them by flipping burgers, it'll occur to them that maybe they should keep said kids from making the same mistake. Also, I don't see anybody acting all tough when their attendance at school lets everyone know that they like to watch Gigli and listen to ska. After about a month of taunting, they'd probably start studying in their sleep to get it to stop.

[Little-Acorn]

Why are we "Seeking a kinder word for failure"? Is there anything "kind" about failure itself? So why should the word be?

Unless we like lying to ourselves about what's really going on.

[diuretic]

understandable. if i gave that impression i am sorry.

IMO, we are almost to that point, where eveyone is the same but yet there are still a few that stand out. no matter how far you progress in a society it will always be that way. atleast until we hit a point of almost perfection, where we almost wouldn't even need a gov anymore since eveyone would he holding hands ;)

but at the same time, i just see it as that you can't have everyone think that it will be ok and there is absolutely no chance of failing. i am not saying that you need make them feel like shit and then tell them to grow some thicker skin. it would almost have to be an age progression sorta thing. but i still see High Schoolers that passed cause "you don't want them too feel bad by failing". I see sixth graders with spelling and grammar that is horrible. and most of it is because you don't want them to feel bad or stupid. doing that to kids does nohting to help them. some survive and pul themselves up and accomplish things. others don't.

i want a society where there is a realistic outlook on life and if a little bit of hardship comes along, then they won't freak out and quit.

Ah, I understand - yes, I agree they shouldn't be mollycoddled, for sure. Life isn't easy, children need to understand that at the right time.


Some things in life are bad,
They can really make you mad,
Other things just make you swear and curse,
When you're chewing life's gristle,
Don't grumble,
Give a whistle
And this'll help things turn out for the best.
And...

[diuretic]

Then let the little pukes rot in failure. I have no sympathy for people too stupid to help themselves. Maybe when those brats have 17 kids and have to support them by flipping burgers, it'll occur to them that maybe they should keep said kids from making the same mistake. Also, I don't see anybody acting all tough when their attendance at school lets everyone know that they like to watch Gigli and listen to ska. After about a month of taunting, they'd probably start studying in their sleep to get it to stop.

I don't know what Gigli is, but ska I remember as being a musical form, i don't know if that's how the word is being used here.

I see what you mean though. But wouldn't it be a good idea to break that cycle that some people appear to be born into and who absorb it just like someone born into a middle class suburban family absorbs their family values?

[diuretic]

Why are we "Seeking a kinder word for failure"? Is there anything "kind" about failure itself? So why should the word be?

Unless we like lying to ourselves about what's really going on.

I think the discussion is about reaction rather than definition.

[Monkeybone]

I think the discussion is about reaction rather than definition. i think so too D, but when i read this line,
Unless we like lying to ourselves about what's really going on., to me that is what is going on when they pass these kids that can barely read nor right very well. they just pretend that everything is ok and let the kid go on. all in the name of not making a kid feel bad.

[diuretic]

i think so too D, but when i read this line,, to me that is what is going on when they pass these kids that can barely read nor right very well. they just pretend that everything is ok and let the kid go on. all in the name of not making a kid feel bad.

Yep, fair point, that's just cheating the kids.

[Hobbit]

I don't know what Gigli is, but ska I remember as being a musical form, i don't know if that's how the word is being used here.

I see what you mean though. But wouldn't it be a good idea to break that cycle that some people appear to be born into and who absorb it just like someone born into a middle class suburban family absorbs their family values?

Gigli is a terrible, terrible movie that should never have been unleashed upon mankind. Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez should have been flogged for making it.

Yes, I'm referring to the musical form ska, which is retarded.

As for breaking the cycle, the stupid cycle started when the kids were told that it's ok to fail. Well, you know what? It's not ok to fail. Failing should feel bad enough to avoid doing it in the future. Imagine if the school had a way to make it not hurt to fall off the top of the jungle gym? Yeah, it sounds good in theory, but since it doesn't hurt, they'll keep doing it until your school is full of brain damaged retards doing swan dives off the jungle gym. I'd rather the kid be screaming in pain for a few minutes than not learn a lesson.