Stupid is not the same thing as slow: All the words teachers use to describe student failure. - Slate Magazine

Stupid is not the same thing as slow: All the words teachers use to describe student failure. - Slate Magazine: "I know a teacher—a great one, actually—who, in private, refers to his students as “bricks.” As in, “dumb as a brick.”
You almost never hear that level of candor among teachers, and not just because every parent’s got a lawyer on retainer. Teachers avoid words like stupid because they know how badly labels can sting, and how long the bruises linger. School shapes you, and no teacher wants to leave scars.
On the other hand, you don’t educate kids by sparing their feelings and reciting politically correct mantras. You do it by confronting their challenges head-on, and showing them how to overcome them.
So when talking to failing students, teachers can’t be too blunt or too circumspect. They’re caught between a rock and a euphemism for a rock.
So how do teachers frame failure for their students? What words do they use?"

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