Teach Effectively!

Writing for the Boston (MA, US) Globe under the headline “Seeking a kinder word for failure: Schools’ morale front and center,” Tracy Jan reported that Massachusetts school officials have debated what words to use to describe schools were too many students fail. Check this lead:

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.

Pretty amazing. Pretty misguided. Pretty sad. Actually, not pretty.

Fortunately, the student member of the board sees through this. Zachary Tsetsos said, “I don’t want to tiptoe around the issue. I’m not concerned about what title we give these schools. Let’s work on fixing them.” Mr. Tsetsos deserves an award for seeing things clearly. Success would breed good morale.

Mayhaps we should have a Bogus Bowl for the euphemisms?

Link to the article.