The Alphabet Game

Got word today that a school district in Texas is following the trend of not making kids feel bad about themselves... or not allowing them to feel like they are failures. Nope. This district wants to build their little self esteems. Aah. How sweet.

That means that they believe in the notion that no team should ever lose in softball, every kid should get a chance to score a homerun, no matter what, and yes, kids should only be taught material that's going to be on a test. Nothing more. You wouldn't want to tax them after all.

Now I don't believe in bullying or fighting... but I also don't believe in having your mother fight all your battles for you, either.

I also don't believe that kids should be protected from feeling bad. Or feeling bad about themselves.

You see, some of that motivates kids. It makes them want to do better. And yes, Barbie should be beautiful... not look like everyone else. I mean, kids need to aspire to something greater than what they are. If they never know failure, they'll never really know success.

Where am I going with this? Well, this little school district out in these parts no longer gives F's. Nope. They give A's, B's, C's, D's and H's. Yep, H's.

Why, you may ask? Because F stands for failure. And kids are no longer allowed to fail. Or feel bad. Or feel that they've done poorly, even if they have. An F just might hurt their self esteem.

On the other hand, an F just might make them try harder.

And actually, it certainly does stand for failure. If a child has failed to study for a test, and he fails, he deserves an F.

Give him an H? Does it stand for Happy? Or Harmonious? Does it make the child feel like he has not failed after all?

Kids actually have it tougher today. They just don't get to feel all the emotions that kids of the past did. They don't really have a chance to grow, to learn and yes, to fail. And learn from that experience.

But you know what, Mr. Superintendent of said school district?

A rose by any other name, would smell as sweet.

Call it what you want, but the H still means that the kid needs to do better.
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