So glad things ironed out a little!

Allowing the child to fail works for some -- specifically, for the student who responds to that by not being satisfied with it. However, if you're accustomed to failing because you honestly don't really think you can do this, then you'll learn some amazing social skills that get you through the day... passed to the next grade... and then you end up in my "underprepared student" lab at the community college because you *need* postsecondary education to get a job at the car wash, just about... and you didn't learn anything in grade school, not because you couldn't, but because you didn't think you could.

I was definitely one of those kids you needed to hang that fruit up high for, else I was a permanent brat However, I can **promise** you that a lot of adults without basic skills (especially in math) learned to behave ... and get passed along... and believe whatever is sold to them with the right smiling and positive reinforcement. Politicians *love* to pull their strings...