If one assumes that the purpose of education is to educate, rather than to GRADE the student, then this makes sense.
One of the reasons I no longer teach, however, is because I used to flunk students.
I simply refused to pass people just because they played sports, had parents active in the PTA or whatever reason people (usally the administration) were using to pressure me to pass students who hadn't learned the material.
I was/am so out of step with most theories of education, folks.
I still think the only purpose of a teacher is to teach his or her subject matter to the kids.
We're not life coaches, morality police, prison guards, janitors, or role models.
Demanding that we do what the parents are supposed to be doing, is just putting a burden on teachers that we're mostly ill equipped to carry.
If the kid didn't want to learn what I was teaching, they could sleep or they could leave, but they could not interupt me or molest their fellow students.
Very few administrators were sympathic to my educational modus operandi.
Ironically, most of the students truly interested in learning the subjects I taught were sympathetic to my propensity of throwing disruptive students out of class.
