ego massage should be done with a chain mace

Via Bitter at the Bitch Girls, we get this.

To soothe the bruised egos of educators and children in lackluster schools, Massachusetts officials are now pushing for kinder, gentler euphemisms for failure.

Now, I don't mean to go on a rant here. But if someone is failing at whatever their job is, you say "Hey: you're failing". If I'm not selling ad space, i expect a call from my boss pointing out that I'm not succeeding at my job. If this state's BACA chapters get way out of line, I expect a call from National asking what the problem is. What I do NOT expect (and would piss me off) would be either one coming up with some sugar-coated term for "failure".

Here's a REALLY novel idea: when one of these schools isn't performing up to snuff, call 'em on it. Identify what the problems are, and attack those problems.

Oh hey... looks like one of the students, who sits on the board, had that idea:

Zachary Tsetsos, a senior at Oxford High School and the only student on the board, said he finds the debate frivolous.

"Why are we spending time on this?," said the 17-year-old. "I don't want to tiptoe around the issue. I'm not concerned about what title we give these schools. Let's work on fixing them."

Want to massage the tender egos of failing students, and the teachers/administrators who are partly responsible? Haw about using a chain mace, or a hickory switch, or any of a number of similar "motivational tools" that have proven effective over the years.

Ye gawds... and these are the folks shaping the minds of future leaders?