According to Mary Sherry’s “In Praise of the “F” Word”, the school system in the USA is failing. This article was intended to target teachers and the educational school system within the United States. It was really sad to read that children do not try to excel in their studies and subsequently suffer as adults. At first it looked like that author was talking about the “F” word in profanity terms, but after you began to read the article, you realized that “F” stands for failure. The essay also makes points about education nowadays. Failure is a strong word. If I am told that I am going to fail something, I will strive to do better in the fear of not passing and succeeding. The author finds out that most of the students taking her classes did not feel like they learned the necessary things in school. The students feel as if they were just passed along from grade to grade, so the teacher did not have to deal with them taking the class over again. I think that the author makes a valid point in saying that in today’s society, failure is regarded as “dreadful word”. Failure should have some credibility given to it, considering that many people have gotten to the top through their ability to fail and stand up stronger. When an individual does not fall, he or she does not appreciate the strength they had to have in order to get to where they are. I also think that the author did not direct her essay in everyone in society, just to those people it applied to and would help in our society. I agree with the author that students have been cheated by our educational system. I think simply passing students along to the next grade is not only unfair to them, but to everyone else including students who did the work. I think students should be given the opportunity to fail. From my experience I have learned that if you have a teacher that