A Complete Failure of the “No Fail” High School Policy

In Canada, many high schools have instituted a “No Fail” policy with their students. Although the intent of the policy was supposed to be to help students achieve passing marks, it has since become abused. As of recently, this strategy has become an excuse for teachers as to why students should graduate even when they do not have the marks to do so.

Take, for example, a student who always shows up to class late, fails every test, never has their homework completed on time, and continuously disrupts the rest of the students by talking to them while the teacher is attempting to teach the rest of the class. This same student, believe it or not, can still graduate at the end of the year with a 51% mark (just above the 50% failing grade).

Now, in Grade 11 and Grade 12, students who take university-preparation courses will have a harder time achieving the 80% mark that resembles an ‘A’ grade, so the teachers of those courses will often be lenient when grading their students, since the course material is tougher to learn. But in some cases, this too has gone too far.

When I attended Grade 10 University mathematics, I had a Chinese teacher by the name of Mr. Tsang. He was one of the harder teachers in the field, and it showed when the overall class average on my report card at the end of the semester was 75%, with myself being slightly ahead at 78%. Well, I just recently discovered from a friend that he had been moved to another high school, because he graded his students too harshly. Now, granted, he was a tough marker, but replacing him with an easier teacher just so that more of the school’s students would pass the course? I don’t know about you, but doesn’t that seem just a bit suspicious?

In the Toronto District School Board (TDSB), there’s even talk about completely eliminating final exams in all courses, because they place too much stress on the students. Not so much of a surprise, as the board has recently passed a proposal to limit the amount of hours of homework a teacher can give depending on the grade level.

Don’t get me wrong. There has to be some leniency in the system, but it should be mostly given to the hard-working and dedicated students – not the slackers. For instance, my Grade 12 Religion final exam wasn’t really an exam; we just had to discuss topics openly with the rest of the class. There had been a harsh snowfall the night prior to the exam, so the following morning when I didn’t see my bus pass by my house, and I heard on the radio that the buses in the neighboring town had been cancelled, I assumed my school had also done the same, so I slept in. When I called the school at around 8:00 am just to confirm the cancellation of the buses, the secretary told me that there were no cancellations at all for that day. My dad rushed me to the school so I could attend the exam, and I showed up 45 minutes late, but where the leniency came into play was when my teacher Mr. Crowley didn’t deduct me any marks, since he already knew I was a good student. I ended that class with a 97% report card mark.

But the bigger picture is what I mentioned earlier – passing students who don’t deserve to pass. Is this due to the laziness of the teachers and the refusal of them to deal with the parents of the failed student? Or does the school board itself not want intelligent students in our society? If things continue the way they’re going, students who are complete dummies will still be let loose into the workforce – oh wait, that’s already happening.