Putting kids through to higher grades, Or: “Social Promotion”
by hulk
So I’ve just read this thing on O’Reilly’s section of Fox News about social promotion, the idea of putting kids through to higher grades when they can’t pass the test for that grade. Well first of all I’m against all that standardized testing, but it’s the same situation if it was based on grades rather than some tests. The point is (at least in NYC and LA) that kids get put through to higher grades, when they can’t do what they’re supposed to do, in order to not hurt their self-esteem.
Why do I smell the fires of the Apocalypse on the horizon? Matter of fact, why is so-called “enlightened” thought so DAMN STUPID. You have little Timmy. Little Timmy is a student living in the inner city area of LA. Little Timmy fails his second-grade exam. Do you put little Timmy through? Hear’s the argument I heard: Yes, because then it’s the third grade teacher’s responsibility to bring him up to speed. Wow. Yeah. Let’s not hurt Timmy’s self-esteem. Here’s the thing. If the kid can’t pass the test, then he’s not doing his work. Either that, or he has a mental condition. And no, ADHD is not an excuse on account of it being a made-up disease. Kids have attention deficit disorder. It’s called BEING A KID. Then you GROW UP. At no point do you need PILLS or SPECIAL TREATMENT. Have I put enough things in caps yet?
Yes, Timmy will be made fun of. He will go to school every day for that year he gets held back thinking about how bad he feels. And you know what? That’ll either drive him to excel, or he’ll drop out. It’s his choice. But if you advance him, worse, if you graduate him from high school with Timmy being unable to read or write, you’ve not only done a disservice to Timmy, you’ve made a mockery out of education. It’s not an entitlement program. No one “*deserves*” a high school diploma. They gotta work for it. And if they’re not willing to work for it, they don’t get it. It’s as simple as that.
All I gotta say is I have yet to find a single liberal who would survive the caveman days. They’d be busy whining about how they deserve some cheetah meat and then they’d starve to death whining about it. Nature has such a special form of justice.
Discuss.
Halffull.org 
Hmm. I agree that little Timmy should not be sent on to the next grade… but there are other factors that may be holding him back in addition to his not working in school. And I’m not talking about ADHD, which *is* a real disorder but is also way overdiagnosed.
Other factors that may be affecting little Timmy’s performance in school: an overcrowded classroom full of the same sorts of kids as him — the kind of classroom where the teacher’s goal is not so much to foster learning but just to get through the day without a riot in the classroom. What else? A potential lack of parental support at home, a potential lack of parental literacy at home?, a culture that doesn’t support school but rewards other things instead…
No, don’t pass little Timmy on to the next grade. But also look at the system and culture that are contributing to his failure.
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Firstly, I will also say that both ADD and ADHD are real. I have an eighteen-year-old cousin who has both of them, as well as dyslexia. These things have made his school life very difficult, but they are not his fault. Fortunately, he has very good parents and teachers who have worked with him and allowed him to make his way through the grade system by passing the exams just like everyone else.
A little boy in grade 2 does not care if he passes the exam, or gets his homework done. As you said, he is being a kid. At that age, it is the responsibility of the teacher in the classroom to make sure he understands the concepts taught in school, and the responsibility of the parent(s) to see that he does his homework at home. If he has learning disabilities, well, that makes it harder but it’s still managable with patient parents and proper teachers.
I think it really all depends on circumstances. If a kid has no learning disabilities, he should have no trouble passing the exams. However, at this age, can the child really be blamed for his lack of education, or should the blame fall to the parents and teachers/schoolboard who did not provide proper teaching/encouragement/attention? And if indeed the parents and teachers are to blame, should the child be penalized and held back an extra year, damaging his self-esteem when he has done nothing wrong?
In later years, the responsibility certainly falls to the student to learn and complete work, and so they should face the consequences of not doing so. A little boy in grade two, however, should not solely bear that responsibility. Passing him up to the next grade, where hopefully he’ll have a better teacher than his last one, may be the best solution (as well as perhaps a meeting with his uncaring family about encouragement and getting homework done).
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