I got a flier from the friends of Courtney Watson et al, attacking Bob Flanagan’s record on education. They paint a compelling picture – he seems like one of those guys who has determined that he’s going to be a fiscal stick in the mud, even if it means de-funding all things related to education, puppy dogs, police pensions, and rainbows. Whatever, maybe he is, maybe is isn’t. I’m voting for him anyway. Why? Because Courtney Watson and friends gave him a failing grade on his incompetence, only they gave him an E instead of an F as a failing grade. It made no sense to me. What the hell is this E here for? Why isn’t it an F? His name even starts with F for crying out loud! I scoured the flier for a hint, nothing.
Tonight I asked a teacher. She said that they give kids E’s now. F’s are too closely related to the word “fail”, EVEN THOUGH THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT IT MEANS!!!! I was irate. “Is an E still failing?” Yes. It still fails. It’s just a different letter, but it means the same thing when I dial it into my political correctness decoder ring. Furthermore, what percentage of the people who got that flier had any idea that E now all the sudden means the same thing as F meant for their entire lives? 99% of all people who vote have never gotten an E, as they didn’t exist until just this minute. Ms Watson apparently buys into this concept so readily that she’d alienate (and befuddle) many of her constituents for the sake of maintaining some absurd political correctness. I am not thrilled with Bob Flanagan, and his traffic cop routine on street corners is a bit grand-standy, but shoot, I bet he at least fails failing kids.
Apparently red ink is out too. This all boils down to a post-modernist assault on right and wrong. Don’t get more started (more started). You’re wrong. You get a giant red slash through your wrong answer and a big get F on your paper. Don’t get it wrong again, and learn something. I’m not going to coddle your wrongness, Courtney.
Shoot.
Words 
I agree with you on all of this.
I’m currently reading “the underground history of american education”, and it’s really ruffling my feathers. I might mail it your way when done.
I love how throwing money at schools is somehow considered the right thing to do, and anyone who vetoes it is considered an evil kitten-drowner who beats puppies. Even if the money is probably just going toward new gymnasiums and giving parents & the taxpaying public at large more control over schools, which is the entire problem. Schools need to stop spending the money they DO have on bullsh*t. We need to go back to teachers being “in charge” of the schools.
The End.
P.S. Have you guys seen the “new” gym at GHS? “Gym B,” it’s called, I think? Holy f-ing sh*t — the workout room is gorgeous. If I lived in Goshen, I’d become a teacher’s aide or something, JUST to be able to use the ellipticals there.
E has been the grade of failure in many places for a very long time. Back in the day when I went to school in New Jersey the failing grade was E. It was for grades below 70%. I never saw an F as a failing grade until I came to New York. ( Well except once or twice in College in South Carolina, but that’s a different story. It’s about a bigoted F*ing so-called prof who had a thing about Yankees coming south and showing them southerners how to move into the 20th century. His attitude was F the Yankees and he did.) I agree with your attitude in principle but E always stood as failing when I was in school in the State of New Jersey. Maybe what’s her name grewup in NJ.