To clarify the concept of misplaced kindness I am going to start with an analogy. Imagine a person who feeds a pet dog on chocolate. The person does it out of kindness and love for the pet, but chocolate can be poisonous for a dog. The giving of the chocolate is not a ‘false’ kindness or an ‘unkindness’ as the person does it with a generous and sincere desire to be kind. However the outcome for the recipient is bad. Misplaced kindness can be a very serious problem in education. Ultimately it can lead to school standards collapsing to the point that a school can become a ‘failing school.’