Social Promotion Devastating To A Student's Future example essay topic

Social Promotion: An Excuse for Not Educating a Child When it comes to students failing a grade level there has always been two options, either a student can be socially promoted or they can be retained. The choices for a failing child are limited and both situations have stigmas attached. Both options have positive and negative effects this I concur. While, presenting both sides of the argument I will note that retention is not always the solution to a failing child's future, however, promoting a student without the skills or knowledge to proceed to the next grade level only paves a future of destruction.

What is Social Promotion? "Social promotion is the practice of promoting students to the next grade when they have failed to master part or all of the grade-level curriculum". Social promotion is considered to keep a student's social and psychological well being intact by allowing them to stay with their peers (social promotion). Social promotion reinforces failure, ignores students' problems, and sends a message to every student that achievement and effort do not matter. (#1 pg. 1) The Alternative... Retention Retention is often viewed as the only alternative to social promotion, it is a policy that holds back students who have failing grades at the end of a school year (#2 pg. 3).

Retention allows students to have an additional year to repeat a grade and to master the core curriculum for that grade level. However, when a child repeats a grade level they are often taught the same skills in the exact same manner from the previous year, thus leading them through another unsuccessful year. While most teachers know that educational research indicates that retention can be ineffective, if not harmful, they feel there are insufficient educational alternatives (#2 pg. 4). It is estimated that between 15 and 19 percent of students are retained each year and as many as 50 percent of students in large urban areas are usually retained at least once before they graduate or decide to drop out of school (Starr pg. 1). The American Federation of Teachers reports that very few studies have ever documented any appreciable long-term academic gains with retention (Starr pg. 1). The AFT also notes that with retention come problems such as, student alienation from school, serious classroom discipline problems, and a significantly increased school dropout rate.

(Starr) Retention is often viewed as a traumatizing experience for students, some children feel as if they are being punished because they did not meet the school's standards. In some cases students are considered to be "lost causes" (While I do advocate the importance behind student's mastering each grade level's skills before they move on I do realize that retention is not the solution to the problem. While social promotion suggests that students do not have to meet the "high standards" of the educational system, retention counteracts that with students who suffer from low self-esteem, students who frequently fall back in later grades, and those students who never catch up. Choosing Social Promotion...

The Raw End of the Deal While one may not choose retention for their child the other half of the deal could be much more worse and devastating to a child's future. "Promotion, in the absence of satisfactory academic performance, perpetuates academic failure by teaching students that effort and achievement are not important and that objective standards can not and will not be enforced". When moving students from grade to grade it leaves students feeling frustrated because they lack the skills and knowledge to complete their assignments and to stay focused on the lessons or activities. Social promotion has led to numerous high school graduates unable to do college level work or to even hold entry-level jobs (Starr 1). Social promotion has been attributed to one of the main reasons why numerous colleges and businesses must spend time and money-giving high school graduates remedial training in basic skills, such as reading.

Not only is social promotion devastating to a student's future it is very costly. "Brookings Institution estimates that the total cost of providing remedial instruction to incoming freshmen nationwide is about $1 billion". (pg. 6 Starr) Statistics show that about one in three incoming college freshmen will have to take a remedial class in math, reading, or writing. When one socially promotes his / her child they are conveying a message that not only are their problems of failing being ignored but that effort and achievement hardly matter. It is irrelevant to think that a student would seriously consider the standards and demands that are required of them from the next grade level, thus the cycle continues and the student embarks on an academic career of undefined standards.

Why Students Fail? Before one decides on if their student should be retained or socially promoted it might be helpful to understand why most students end up falling behind or failing in school. "A very small percentage of children fail because they do not have the innate capacity to acquire the complex knowledge and skills required for functioning in today's information age. The vast majority of children are unsuccessful in school for other, more complicated reasons".

(#3 pg. 2) Some children may not prosper because they are immature or unready for school. While others may not be provided with a rich curriculum, in other words we "feed them with an empty spoon" (#3 pg. 2) Some students are not engaged in the learning process or feel no incentive to master the skills. Students come from a variety of backgrounds and beliefs, for some academics are not crucial to their future and do not play a key role in their goals. In these cases students are not confronted with the consequences of failing.

Researchers also note that others are the victims of ill-conceived theories about children and why they learn that result in failure-and in practices on the part of the teachers, administrators, parents and students, and the wider society, which sustain low achievement (# 3, pg. 3) Above are many of the reasons or characteristics for a child's rate of failure, but for some children it does not always depend on one problem, failure can result in a combination of any incidences or events that play a key role in a child's environment. What Can Be Done? In order to eliminate social promotion there has to be a plan of improvement within all school systems. "For long term success, it is crucial that young students be provided with a firm academic foundation, particularly in reading". (#5 pg. 1) Districts can integrate and initiate a number or programs immediately to deter and eventually stop social promotion. School systems should adopt rigorous standards and develop grade by grade curriculum, all schools with large numbers of students at risk should have a full complement of well trained staff, and instituting policies to prevent early school failure (#3 pg. 1).

One-on-one tutoring sessions and the assurance that every student is proficient in reading by the third grade are effective methods for ensuring an increase in all students's success rates. Having a well-trained staff that is able to accommodate all students and who is flexible in combining instructional methods to ensure the mastery of all subject matter being taught to the students is key when approaching a solution to social promotion. Having a positive classroom environment is essential for the growth of students' achievement levels. Several essential characteristics of a classroom should be a small class size, a safe and orderly environment, strategies designed to maximize time on task, and frequent monitoring of individual student performance. (#4 pg. 1) The success of each program depends heavily on how well a program or reform is implemented. (#4 pg. 1) If a the level of commitment amongst the educators and administrators is full of determination then the program should work, but the school system must also concentrate on early intervention.

If a student's difficulties are caught early and corrected then he / she has a greater chance of continuing on positive and successful track, but if the student is lost in the system then the hope of an intervention being successful is minimal. According to researchers "children achieve when they are taught the basics early; when they are challenged by high standards and a rich curriculum; when caring, firm adults pay strict attention to the quality of their work and behavior". (#4 pg. 1) A school system can reform there curriculum and end social promotion by providing students adequate care, a rigorous curriculum, early intervention, and a determine and well prepared staff. It is so easy to pass a child off by just promoting them to the next level. One might think it is not my problem anymore. By socially promoting children by just one grade level can effect that student's performance for a lifetime.

Students are in school to learn not to be passed off. They have right to a proper education and they must master all skills before being promoted. There is no hope for a child who has not met the standards or mastered the skills to be constantly promoted from one grade to the next. A student with an immeasurable amount of unmet skills and standards will never be able to function on "normal" level within society.

If school systems, teachers, and parents do not hold each child responsible for the set standards then they are depriving these students of an education and a chance to ever have a successful future. When the question asked what is to be done with a failing student the answer is not social promotion. Social promotion is an excuse, a scapegoat, or a way out of taking the time, extra effort, and responsibility of educating a child.