"And All The Children Are Above Average..."

...so none of them should fail according to professional teachers:

The Professional Association of Teachers will be told at its meeting next week that the label of failure could undermine pupils' enthusiasm.

Delegates will also hear a condemnation of the phrase "happy slapping". (NOTE: they want to condemn the words--not the action??)

The term is used to describe bullying where assaults are filmed on mobile phones.

Liz Beattie, a retired teacher, will call on the association's annual gathering in Buxton, Derbyshire, to "delete the word 'fail' from the educational vocabulary to be replaced with the concept of 'deferred success'".

She argues that repeated failure, such as in exams, can damage pupils' interest in learning.

So we begin to see why editors and journalists believe we should never use that awful word "terrorist" and should select less pejoritive words (wouldn't want to hurt their poor feelings, would we?) to decribe them! Perhaps we can refer to suicide bombers as "deferred living specialists" so as not to damage their interest in life, perhaps?

Well, if you want to truly damage pupils' interest and enthusiasm in learning --not to mention their genuine self-esteem--then parents should encourage this kind of tripe in their local schools.

As our children's education is taken over more and more by the guardians of multiculturalism and the priests of political correctness, we parents can happily watch as student scores drop even further and further into the toilet, secure in the knowledge that at least their self-esteem hasn't suffered from the trials and tribulations of objective reality. If we are really really lucky, they will remain children their whole life and simply defer success entirely!

This nonsensical and not-so-subtle attempt at political correctness which distorts language and thus distorts the ability to think rationally, is just what our children need, don't you think?

A modest suggestion: if you want to keep kids interested in school, give them an intellectual challenge and some good teachers who live in the same world you and I inhabit. Do not--I repeat, do not--give them teachers who are so dim that they are willing to sacrifice Truth and Reality on the altar of feel-good, happy talk.