Is it All Right to Fail?

In his closing statement Atticus says that the phrase “all men are created equal” is often misused. He cites the example of teachers who “promote the stupid and idle along with the industrious--because [otherwise] the children left behind suffer terrible feelings of inferiority.” There has been a lot of debate in the media recently about the practice of “social promotion” in which all students are promoted to the next grade whether they pass or fail the standardized tests and “participation ribbons” where every competitor gets a ribbon whether they win or lose. Is it important to protect kids’ self-esteem or is it better to hold even young people accountable for their actual performance?