Opinion

Passing Students Just to Pass Them: Why this is Harmful

Dave Nimer
April 6, 2017

Occasionally, students in elementary school are advanced to the next grade even though they have not successfully completed the lower grade. This is due to the advocates of social promotion. Having students advance to middle school knowing they are not ready can hurt them later in the future.

First of all, in terms of knowledge, they would be very much behind. Just because they advance to the next level does not mean their brain did. If they were having trouble with the work from the previous grade, what makes you think they will do better in a more advanced class?

Secondly, it would just cause them more stress than what they already have. School is one the major causes of stress in a student’s life; about 45% of teens say that school is a huge stress factor, and that isn’t what we are aiming for. We want the students to advance to the next grade when they feel as if they are mentally prepared to advance, so in the future they won’t have a hard time.

Also, another reason why social promotion is a bad idea is because of bullies. Bullying has become very common thing in school. Kids can get teased or mocked for being slow or just plain different from everyone else. So we can infer that the bullies would target the kids who don’t fully understand the work, and those kids are the ones who were advanced due to social promotion.

Some may say that keeping a child in a grade for longer than a year can hurt a child’s development and self-esteem. That might be true. However, advancing them to the next grade where they don’t know anything can do more than hurt a child’s development or self-esteem; it could possibly break them.

In brief, students who are not ready to advance to the next grade should stay in their grade until they master the skills needed to move up. It would make it so much easier if they could actually comprehend the lessons that they are given in the future.

Below are stories published in the April 7 Issue of The Roaring Gazette.

Meet the Candidates by Cassidy O’Neal

Ring Dance Glamorous and Unforgettable by Kaylyn Neves

Three Lunches Test Cafeteria Capacity by Elena Day

Student Art Wows at the MOCA by Ariana Hernandez

When Senioritis Gets Real by Kayla Smith

Passing Students Just to Pass Them: Why this is Harmful by Dave Nimer

Let’s Face it: Cursive is Dead by Amari McCoy

Schools Should Re-Think Standardized Testing by Tyanna Lamar

Immigration is Great, but the U.S. must Ensure it is Safe, Legal by Dylan Klepk

In a Digital World, Why do Teachers Make us Print? by Marissa Howell

Achieve 3000 Causes Undue Stress by Tyler Dennis