Read the following poem and respond by answering this question
in your notebook:
Is it enough to be "pretty good"?
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There once was a pretty good student,
Who sat in a pretty good class.
And was taught by a pretty good teacher.
Who always let pretty good pass.
He wasn't terrific at reading;
He wasn't a whiz-bang at math;
But for him education was leading,
Straight down a pretty good path.
He didn't find school too exciting,
But he wanted to do pretty well,
He did have trouble with writing,
And nobody taught him to spell;
When doing arithmetic problems
Pretty good was regarded as fine;
Five and five needn't always add up to be ten
A pretty good answer was nine.
The pretty good student was happy,
With the standards that were in effect;
And nobody thought it was sappy,
if his answers were not quite correct.
The pretty good class that he sat in
Was part of a pretty good school,
And the student was not an exception;
On the contrary, he was the rule.
The pretty good school that he went to
Was right there in a pretty good town.
And nobody ever noticed,
He could not tell a verb from a noun.
The pretty good student, in fact, was
A part of a pretty good mob.
And the first time he knew that he lacked was,
When he looked for a pretty good job.
It was then when he sought a position.
He discovered that life can be tough,
And he soon had a sneaky suspicion
Pretty good might not be enough.
The pretty good town in our story
Was part of a pretty good state
Which had pretty good aspirations
And prayed for a pretty good fate.
There once was a pretty good nation.
Pretty proud of the greatness it had,
But which learned much too late;
If you want to be great
Pretty good is, in fact, pretty bad.
by Charles Osgood
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