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Fear of failure. Something I have been thinking about a great deal because of this class. Its so unusual to have a teacher work without a prompt, without a system designed to intentionally and unfairly challenge students just for the sake of making them work harder for a grade. I have always hated that, teachers making a test confusing to make it more difficult for some arbitrary reason. The subject matter is what is important, not the way in which you present it on a test. If the subject matter doesn't produce problems that are difficult then that is the nature of the subject and it shouldn't be altered. I guess what is bringing this on is a test I took in my Journalism class recently on which I got a C. Side one was conceptual application of the subject and side B was all matching problems. Side A I didn't miss any points, perfect score. Side B I missed almost 100 points out of the total 315 points available. Why? Because it was intentionally designed to trick. It didn't require any knowledge, just memorization of where information came from in the continuity of the class. Even that wasn't enough because there is a false answer in each section thrown in to confuse the students. Why? I don't understand the point of intentionally deceiving students, especially when so much rides on passing the test, getting that high letter grade.

We are so conditioned to focus on those little letters, so afraid of their impact. Since before I can remember I was told that getting good grades would mean success (money) and bad grades meant sucking cock in a back ally for crack. What a terrible system, making so many children absolutely afraid of failing that it now seems almost impossible to try new things, to experiment, for fear that we may fail.

I suppose that's all I have to say. I am just angry about the system. Generations of kids conditioned against failure will only be a detriment to our society. We need a system that relies on adequate teacher reviews of students behavior instead of letter grades based on cumulative tests.