Submitted by Haim, Mar 17, 2008 11:29

It may be true, as Ms. Fruchter writes, that "...they dismissed a century of research demonstrating that keeping students back does not improve their performance" but what, exactly, is the theory of moving them ahead? If a student cannot manage 8th grade math, how will he manage 9th grade math? If a student cannot read at an 8th grade level, how will he succeed at the 9th grade level? (Assuming they do not dumb down the 9th grade, as has actually been happening for a number of years.)

Furthermore, while the effect of social promotion may be debatable regarding the individual student who is being socially promoted, what is all too transparent is the effect on all the other students. Students are intelligent and all too aware of their environment. Why should one student work hard to get promoted when he knows the student beside him does nothing and still gets promoted? Students draw the natural conclusions, and the consequences for the public schools have been disastrous.

It is past time to put an end to what is probably the single most corrosive education policy of the last 30 years.

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