Failing is Not an Option
Teachers should not be allowed to let their students fail. If students get F’s on tests, they obviously do not know the material that a teacher has “taught” them. If students do not know the material a teacher just “taught”, a teacher’s job is incomplete. Teaching is pointless if the students aren’t learning. What is the point of moving on to the next lesson, if students don’t know what they need to know in order to pass the next lesson? Students need the knowledge from the previous lesson in order to completely understand the next lesson.
If a teacher just gives his/her student a big fat F and moves on, the student did not learn what they needed to learn. This will make the student’s grade suffer for the rest of the year because they missed vital information needed to understand what is going in that class for the rest of the year. I understand some students just do not understand some subjects, but it is a teacher’s duty to make sure his/her students leave a little bit smarter than when they arrived. If students leave class having no clue what just happened beyond the door of the classroom, that teacher has failed to complete his/her job. It is a complete waste of time to be in class if the students do not learn what needs to be learned.
Each student should leave class with a better understanding of math, English, civics, chemistry, geometry, or whatever subject they are “learning” at that particular time. Yes, a teacher cannot focus on one student for an entire class period if they do not understand the material; however, a teacher can help them after school. I understand that teachers are not paid for overtime, but it is a teacher’s job to make sure that his/her students pass. Teaching is not an easy job. If teaching were so easy, more people would be teachers. It is hard to deal with multiple personalities at one time, and make sure that ALL of those personalities understand the material being taught, but that is teaching.
Teaching takes work outside of school hours. In conclusion, failing should not be an option. Make students do the work again and again and again until they have reached a certain degree of understanding. Students don’t need to have the material down pat, but they do need to reach some level of understanding in order to pass in high school, in college, and in life.
