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AROUND THE WORLD 1: British Kids Won't Fail

A group of teachers in London, England, want to ban the term “fail” in British schools.

Many of the members of the Professional Association of Teachers, also known as PAT, have proposed striking the word from the country’s school system. They argue that the word may dishearten students and put them off of learning for life.

The group wants schools to use “deferred success” instead.

A spokesman for the Professional Association of Teachers told Reuters the idea behind changing the word originated because the group wanted to avoid putting labels on children.

“We recognize that children do not necessarily achieve success the first time,” he said to Reuters. “But I recognize that we can’t just strike a word from the dictionary.”

Founded in 1995 by teachers for teachers, the Professional Association of Teachers is an independent, non-profit, non-union and non-partisan education association. Membership is open to all educators. According to the organization’s Web site, a primary goal of the association is ”to improve student learning through the pursuit of teaching excellence.”

--Written by Leah Williams

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