Becky Isles

Lucia Elden
English 111
11/4/2014
Failure

Failing in the education system is for the most part, a blame game. For the
students its the teachers fault and vice versa that a bad grade was received or given. I
failed my freshman year at Central Michigan and because of that I lost my scholarships
and had to attend a new school. But am I all to blame here? Does the oversized
classrooms, lack of help from the teachers, and the stress of getting the grades
contribute? Overcoming the failure is the responsibility of not only on the students but
the teachers as well and grades can be a motivator to do well.
Engaging a classroom of one student can be challenging enough, but having
thirty-two hundred students in one classroom alone is an even bigger challenge. Mary
Sherry, teacher at an adult literacy class and author of In Praise of the F Word ,deals
with trying to engage students on a regular basis. According to Sherry, Before a
teacher can expect students to concentrate, he has to get their attention, no matter how
many distractions there are (339). How are teachers supposed to do this? As one can
imagine sitting down with every single student is near impossible. However, engaging
students in the classroom is a step towards the right direction. The way to do this has a
lot to do with the teaching style (339). As adults in a college class however, it is no
longer the teachers responsibility to incorporate all the types of learning into their
lessons. However, if a variety of lessons, such as lectures,discussions, or presentations

were given, it would help to tend to the different styles. Incorporating these techniques
and different styles into lessons can be extremely beneficial to the class. Teachers
responsibility to make sure the student is doing the work is super important as well, but
its also the students responsibility to go to the teacher and communicate with them.
Cheating and plagiarism is unfortunately a common part of school for students. Like
Mary Sherry, Mike Rose who is a proclaimed author and teacher at UCLA recalls when
he had( a student had ended up in his office because the graduate student who taught
her English had accused Marita of plagiarism and turned the paper to the director of
freshman English (32). Realizing that Marita didnt know how to quote from text, Rose
was able to see that she wasnt cheating but wasnt taught a very important English tool.
The graduate student was doing their job by turning the paper in, but Mike Rose was
able to see that she wanted to do well on the assignment (32) and by doing that she
had gone to the library and looked in the encyclopedia (32) to help. Its then their
responsibility to teach the students how to properly cite quotes to prevent something like
this scenario happen again.
Not only is it the teachers responsibility but the students responsibility to do well
in school. The students are the ones that have to retain the information they have
learned from class and be able to recite it. Teachers give out the information and its up
to the students if they want to understand the information or act upon it or not. In order
to get the grades they want, its important that students do the classwork, homework,
and prepare for any upcoming tests. In her class Sherry says that many of her students
having to retake this class have decided to make education a priority (339). Students
arent putting in the effort that is necessary to do well. It wasnt until Sherrys sons

teacher threatened to fail him that English became a priority in his life (339). Using
grades as a motivator can be an eye opener for students to start realizing a lot of the
responsibility does fall on them. A lot of students blame the teacher not teaching them
well enough on them not doing well. This is sometimes the case but most of the time
students, especially in high school, arent trying hard enough to retain the information. A
lot of the time students automatically see the work given them to be too complicated
and give up trying. Paulo Friere, an educational reformer, thinks that students dont
have to work for the information the teachers are giving them. He poses that "Education
thus becomes an act of depositing, in which the students are the depositories and the
teacher is the depositor" (240). This meaning that the teachers give out the information
and give it to the students. It is then up to the students if they want to take the
information in. In Sherrys son's case, he wasn't taking in the information that the
teacher was depositing to him and that is an indicator on why he was failing the class.
So in order to give students the motivation to do the work Sherry believes that if a
teacher reveals the trump card of failure (339) it is motivation for anyone to do better.
In fact she told her son, Shes going to fail you (339) and he finished the semester with
an A. Others like in her adult class are motivated by the desire for a better job or the
need to hang on to the one theyve got (339). The real motivator is for a better future,
she has plenty of students that could give expert testimony on unemployment,
chemical dependency, abusive relationships but despite all of that, make school a
priority. In Maritas case it was her first ever English paper, and she desperately wanted
to do well on it, because once in college grades start to become more and more
important and can affect the jobs that are available for us. Another memory Mike Rose

recalls is of a student named Concepcion. She attended UCLA for two years and didnt
have the best grades and it put her on academic probation, later causing her to quit. Not
every student knows what they are going to major in and that along with parents paying
a lot of money (44) school puts a lot of pressure on students to do well. In this case it
took finding a school that was right for her to finally start achieving. But the motivation
that parents are there to help and sometimes spending a lot of money on you is a
motivator. So is the fact that one can be put on academic probation which is what
happened to me my freshman year at Central Michigan. Just like Concepcion and
Martia I wanted to do well in school, but I had no idea what I wanted to do. That put a lot
of pressure on me and eventually I was put on academic probation and dropped out of
Central Michigan University. Seeing how much money I had wasted in that year really is
a motivator for me to do well at the school I am in now. As an adult literacy teacher,
Sherry understands that these students are coming back to school because of problems
that they had once faced and are giving school a second try. At first she blamed the
poor academic skills our kids have today on drugs, divorce and other impediments to
concentration necessary for doing well in school (339). Its obvious that there are a lot
more reasons, such as Maritas case, that people do not do well in school. There are so
many distractions out there, and life happens.But Sherry still firmly believes with a little
help of the failure card and motivating the students that way, they can overcome that.
She believes that, People of all ages can rise above their problems, but they need to
have a reason to do so (339). May that be because one wouldn't want to lose a
scholarship, or like in Marys students cases that this is another attempt at education
and want to get it done right a second time.

There are people that argue that people still fail after all of this is happening.
Even with the teachers help, students trying their best, and the motivators that are out
there, people still fail. Thats when outside programs become an important tool for
success. Mike Rose suggests that having a tutor can be extremely helpful. He states,
People who work in tutoring centers and preparatory programs get used to spending
intense bursts of time with their students.[They] get closely involved (44). Having
someone who is knowledgeable with the topic sit down and work closely for months at a
time could be what some students need. For instance, Mike Rose was having a talk with
James a student at UCLA who was getting between a C and D in his English course. He
argued that, I go to class. I read the book. I write the paper. Can you see, Im not a C-.
Dont tell me Im a C-(37). So hes doing all the work and thinks that he shouldnt have
gotten a C-. I think I deserved way higher than that (37). Mike Rose knew that getting a
low grade was a disappointment but if James stuck with his tutor and with the extra help
from Mike Rose he could do better in school. Not every student comes with the same
knowledge; some are going to college with limited exposure to certain kinds of writing
and reading and with conceptions and beliefs that were dissonant with those in the
lower-division curriculum they encountered (37). But as Mike Rose pointed out that with
the help of himself, James could improve the grades. Sherry believes that the threat of
flunking, is an expression of confidence by both the teachers and parents that the
students have the ability to learn the material presented to them (340). Meaning that if
teachers and family are there to support and let the students know they could fail,
students would rise above their problems and learn the material. Teachers and parents
just have to be confident and be there for their students as much as possible.

There are plenty of factors that play a role in students not succeeding in school, a
big part of mine was the lack of motivation from not knowing what to do as well as the
language barriers between students and teachers. However, if teachers helped more,
students put in their best effort, and the things like money and failing motivated students
to succeed then a lot less people would be dropping out. If students feel like they are
trying their best looking to an outside resource like a tutor could become very beneficial
to their academic future.

Cites sourced
Sherry, Mary. In Praise of the F World. Exploring Relationships: Globalization and
Learning In the 21st Century. Boston MA: Pearson, 2013. 338-340. Print
Rose, Mike. "The Politics of Remediation." Conversions in Context: Identity, Knowledge,

and College Writing. Cambridge: Ed. Fitzgerald, Bruce, Stasney, and Vogt, 2004.
32-45. Print.
Freire, Paulo. "The 'Banking' Concept of Education". Composing Knowledge. Ed.
Rolf Norgaard. Boston/New York: Bedford/St. Martins. 2007. 239-253.