Social Promotions Essay, Research Paper

A lot of controversies are going on about ?social promotions? in the new York school system, and it is difficult to guess what educational policy will be in this new era. In some ways it depends on who will be the next schools chancellor and also it depends on the statistics during those ?social promotions? years, if they will show low grade scores for the schools followed by social promotions.

Therefore, the schools should end this educational practice of ?social promotions? because ignoring these problems won?t make them disappear, and pupils who don?t absorb material from last year won?t be able to grasp it next year. The schools have to define the ?missing needed skills? in children.

Furthermore, if teachers are ignoring student?s failings, if teachers are ignoring student?s failings, it makes the problem worse. This method absolved students. They continue to miss classes, and they don?t want to study because they know that they will be transferred to the next class if they pass the final test or not. For example, the college

Susanna Kuyenov

ENG 101

Essay #2

students, who come from the high schools fail to go to the high level classes unless they pass the entering exams. Most of them have to stay in the basic skills classes. For instance, my friend Anna failed the entering exam and she was put on the same level as I am in college. But the difference between us is that I have been in the United States only for the past six years and she has been living here all her life and graduated from High School.

Besides ignoring these academic problems, passing students from one class to another is maintaining academic mediocrity. As stated in USA Today in 1998, the ?theory behind these social promotions is that children who are held back in school suffer damaging blows to their selfesteem?(305). Because of that the learning process was affected. If child wouldn?t be able to absorb material from the last class he had to repeat the class, which should have improve his learning process. For example, my neighbor?s son, George is in the sixth grade. He is always behind with his homework and he fails most of his tests. This happened because in the fifth grade he missed school a lot and he didn?t learn the material from the fifth grade. Now his parents have to hire a tutor to study with him so that he won?t be held behind.

Moreover, the schools have to identify the student?s ?missing skills? (306). I the students need extra help they can be sent to summer school or attend weekend classes. This solution was adopted in Long Beach, California. During the summer school students can absorb information that they missed during the school year. After they improve their skills they can be promoted. This system can also help students who are immigrants in the US, and who came to the United States to study. By offering ESL classes weekend classes and summer school the learning process for many studens has been improved.

As we can see ?social promotion? fails because ignoring academic problems affects student?s learning process, maintains scholls? mediocrity. Doing favours to students and transferring them from one class to another deprives student?s of getting ahead in their lives.