You have to be kidding!

I was reading the Metro on the tube this morning and came across this little snippet that would have had me choking on my coffee if I’d been drinking any at the time

“Pupils branded failures must instead be told they have ‘deferred success’, a retired teacher claimed yesterday. Liz Beattie, 68 says pupils are often upset when told they have under-achieved and this stops them trying again. She aims to persuade a teachers’ conference to ban the word ‘fail’ and instead praise pupils for what they achieve. Mrs Beattie, of Ipswich, said: ‘Failure is very hard to cope with. Eventually, if you experience enough of it, it stops you in your tracks. Education is too important for that. We need to keep people striving.’ She will put the motion to the Professional Association of Teachers’ conference at Buxton, Derbyshire, next week”

Now I’m all for praising as well as providing constructive criticism but ‘deferred success’? You have got to be kidding me!