From: Karen Madden-Sents
Email: ksents@udel.edu
Course: EDST 390: Instructional Strategies and Reflective Practice
College: University of Delaware
Instructor: Dr. Eugene Matusov
ClassWeb: http://www.ematusov.com/EDST390.98S
ChildrenObservations: No
Date: 5/26/98
Time: 9:16:50 PM
Remote Name: 207.124.0.212
The following essay is about social promotion in America’s educational system. There is great disagreement on whether this practice should be allowed to continue. Supporters generally focus on social development of the student, whereas opponents usually cite the educational development of a child as the main reason for their beliefs. Educators, parents and students of education at all levels could benefit from exploring this topic. Many people already have a firm belief concerning social promotion, but the following essay does show both sides of the coin. My personal belief is one of opposition to social promotion. My solution, which I call Mobile Learning, is included in the paper. It is a crude outline of an alternative educational system, but I believe it could work with tailoring, refinement and open-mindedness.
Social promotion is a decision by parents and educators to allow a child to advance to the next grade even if s/he is not academically prepared. This allows the child to remain in the same class as his/her peers and friends, but forces the child into a learning environment that is too advanced.Social promotion is a controversial issue in America’s educational system, and for good reason. There are advantages and disadvantages that go along with social promotion, but the overall trend among educators today is opposition to it.
The reasons some educators are inclined to believe in social promotion revolve around the self concept of the students. There is a stigma attached to being kept back. Those who are held back show some startling developmental problems. First and foremost, their self esteem takes a great beating. No matter what age, students are aware of their situation when they are held back. They realize that their friends have gone on to the next grade, and feel like an outsider around their new and younger classmates. Some children benefit from repeating the school year, but many are limited because they feel inept and slow. This can lead to frustration and, inevitably, behavior problems. Studies have shown that students who experience school delay, no matter how young, often decide to drop out of high school later on. There is also the issue of the disproportionate number of minority and low SES children being considered for school delay. Couple this with the increased drop out rate, and this leads to even higher drop-out statistics for these minority students, who already experience significant educational disservices. An economic consideration must also be made. The cost of keeping a student in school for an extra year or more is expensive.
Disadvantages to social promotion are many. The most important is the cycle of failure. If young students are allowed a social promotion before they have learned to read, they will fall behind even more in each subsequent grade. As they get to high school, they are more likely to drop out due to frustration and incomprehension in their classes. Other disadvantages include the lack of similarity to the real world that social promotion presents. Students allowed to pass to the next grade without completing standards will not be prepared for the job world where substandard performance is not tolerated. Students will be less likely to work hard if they are confident they will pass without persistence.
Albert Shanker, president of The American Federation of Teachers, wrote in his article Social Promotion that if there are too many failing students, there will be political pressure to return to social promotion. He states that schools should have systems of support in place to keep failures low. These support systems would identify students who are not mastering basic skills and provide extra help through one-on-one tutoring with expert teachers, or full scale programs combining in class instruction with diagnostic testing and daily tutoring.
Another alternative to social promotion eliminating the existence of traditional grade levels as we know them. The fact is, no two children are functioning on the same level as each other for an entire year, so why do we try so hard to lump them together? An alternative is mobile learning, where students move back and forth in small non-static groups for each subject area. For example, if one student is talented in math but needs extra help in reading, he is exposed to a learning environment that is best suited to his individual needs. There would be no grade levels per say, only completion of standards without pressure. In traditional school settings, it is likely that those who are held back a grade do not need to repeat that entire grade. But there they sit, from the first day on, listening to instruction on skills they have already mastered. So for the first part of the year, they are likely bored by the repetitious material. Mobile learning groups would eliminate the repeat of information that has already been mastered because it is tailored specifically around the student’s needs. This proposed solution eliminates both social promotion and school delay. Mobile learning groups are also helpful to students who have transferred from a school that was either ahead or behind their new institution.
Social promotion is less popular than it used to be. It is against the law in some places. In a survey of Texas teachers, 68% of elementary and 61% of middle school teachers had students who were socially promoted. This was after 40% of the teachers had recommended retention (Shanker, 1996, http://www.aft.org/wws/wws3246.htm). In another survey of both public and private school teachers in Texas, statistics show that social promotion is more widespread in public schools than private. Only 29% of private school teachers think social promotion is a problem, as compared to 54% of public school teachers. Interestingly, among teachers of low income children in private schools, 46% are concerned about social promotion (author unknown, http://www.tppf.org/social.htm).
The Texas Public Policy Foundation published findings after the 1995/1996 school year. In Texas, students must pass the 10th grade level Texas Assessment of Academic Skills test in order to graduate. 10% of Texas public school students were unable to pass it, even with repeated attempts (author unknown, http://www.tppf.org/social.htm). This shows the magnitude of the problem of social promotion. Consider the many states that don’t require testing before graduation. The number of students who are ill prepared for the real world would probably be startling.
It is clear that the dangers of social promotion outweigh the positive effects. Although it is hard to see a student fail, it is in his/her best interest that we make sure s/he masters the integral standards of one grade before moving on to the next. Social pressures would be difficult to overcome, but an inadequate education is inexcusable. As teachers, we want to see all of our students succeed. It may take some longer than others, but every student is capable with the proper fostering environment. It is our job to make sure all students have the skills under their belts that ensure potential success after graduation. Short of the major educational reforms suggested above, the question of social promotion will always be an issue. The best suggestion is the same for this issue as any other educational issue: consider each child on an individual basis. Never make a sweeping generalization that could cause one student to get swallowed up in the system. It is wise to have an opinion on educational issues, but don’t stand by it in every case purely on principle. The truth is, some students may actually benefit from social promotion.
References
Shanker, Albert. 1996, http://www.aft.org/wws/wws3246.htm, “Where We Stand”, American Federation of Teachers.
Author Unknown. http://www.tppf.org/social.htm, Texas Public Policy Foundation.