This paper analyses discourses on school failure of gymnasium students. Research strategy for establishment of dialogue with students is focus group. The method of analysis of the material obtained in the conversations with students is discourse analysis. First, two dominant strategies of focus group usage are discussed: as means for collecting data from subjects and as a social emancipatory practice. The prevailing discourses about school failure of students are mapped: the discourse of school as an insecure investment, the discourse of school marginalisation, the discourse of disinterest of students, the discourse of disinterest of teachers and the discourse 'school success does not have an alternative'. The concluding part discusses research implications on social position of students in power relations in education.