PLN #10: In Praise of the F Word

The article, “In Praise of the F Word,” by Mark Sherry, explains how the threat of failure to some students can be very motivating and result in success rather than failure.


Mark Sherry’s reasoning behind the statement in “In Praise of the F Word,” that kids respond well to failure, is well-backed up and is interesting to think about in a perspective that many people aren’t used to looking at. The article says that if kids get the threat of a failure in a class, then they will definitely be more motivated to work hard to do well in the class they know they’re doing bad in. The author even had examples in his article that proved his theory right. The article also expressed that many kids who have graduated or dropped out of high school go back into school to re-learn what they were supposed to learn in high school. Many of the graduated people admitted to receiving their diplomas even when they didn’t actually learn what was being taught. They were basically saying that they shouldn’t have passed the class, but the teachers let them anyway. I think that threatening students with a failing grade is an interesting way to motivate them because it’s not a way that teachers would normally come up with but it really drives kids to get good grades, and they will be happy in the end.