The funny thing is that students can fail but still be a pleasure to have in class.

Thus reminds me of when I was student teaching. I had this one senior boy that to this day is my favourite student I've ever had. Here had just transferred into the school after his stint ended up with custody of him. He wanted to go to a rival school a few miles away where his friends were going. He decided as a form of protest he wasn't going to do anything in any class. Time to take a test, he wouldn't even write his name on it. Group work, nah, he just sat there staring straight ahead. We had multiple meetings with his aunt and the rest of his teachers but this kid didn't flinch. It's not even like the other school was a bad school, it's where I went to high school. He was never a distraction in class, nice to everyone, but would just sit at his desk. I don't think he ever even came with paper or a pencil. He would just sit there and stonewall teachers. Finally st ther last parent teacher conference of the first semester I was able to convince his aunt to just let him transfer to the other school. I'm not going to name him but if he happens to read this I hope he's doing well and thanks for some of my favorite moments in my teaching career so far, and I can still do a kick flip.