Commentary

School failure by any other name, would smell as sweet?

Failing schools in Bay state get euphemism for their euphemism. Via Boston Globe 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.” Reason on “failing schools,” I mean “underperforming schools,” oops I mean “priority one schools” here.