Social promotion
Social promotion is the practice of promoting schoolchildren to the next grade, to keep them with their peers, regardless of whether they are capable of doing grade-level work. Some advocates of social promotion argue that keeping children together by age (together with their age cohort) is an intrinsically important factor, and that being "kept back" would be inexcusably painful for a child emotionally. Critics argue that this is done so as not to harm the students' self-esteem, to let children stay with their friends, and to allow teachers to get rid of problem students.
However, studies have shown that the older teenager that is being "kept back" is more affected emotionally rather than a young child because older teenagers are more vulnerable to change rather than a young child. Therefore, retention is much more helpful to children in the elementary and middle school level but not in the high school level.
Opponents of social promotion argue that it cheats the child of an education and can hide teacher ineptitude. Most children who are behind will probably end up staying an extra year in high school which clearly defeats the purpose of keeping them with their peers. Older teenagers are experiencing a lot of pressure that a young child doesn't have to face yet i.e. transition from adolescence to adulthood.
Positive results of retention
Supporters of retention have maintained that it sends a message to all schoolchildren that weak effort and poor performance will not be tolerated. In this case, it teaches underachievers to get serious and get ready for the next grade.
Negative impacts of social promotion
- They cannot do the work
- Sends the message to all schoolchildren that they can get by without working hard
- Forces teachers to deal with under-prepared schoolchildren while trying to teach the prepared
- Gives parents a false sense of their children's progress