PROMOTE OR NOT: CHOOSING A CHILDS FUTURE

Promote or Not:
Choosing a Childs Future

Jessica Bartman

Paper #4, Draft #3

LBS 355-02
May 4, 2015
Pages: 4

PROMOTE OR NOT: CHOOSING A CHILDS FUTURE

Promote or Not: Choosing a Childs Future

A teacher helps our children grow and learn, but did you know a teacher also holds the
key to our childrens future? Grade retention is an issue that every school faces: do we promote
students or not? First off, grade retention is simply the idea that a student is not academically up
to par with the rest of the class, and is not fit to enter the next grade level. Retention can shape a
student in every aspect of their life, from relationships to future educational success. Retention
has very negative consequences for a student, and is not an effective method in building a
students education achievements (Aldridge & Goldman, 2007). I am against grade retention
because retention will ultimately, impact a child emotionally for the rest of their life, set them up
for failure in school, and may even determine whether students will graduate from high school.
When students are retained and see their peers move forward, how do they understand it,
and cope with it? Retaining a child doesnt just impact them from an educational standpoint, but
it affects their self-efficacy by making them feel less-than, or inferior to their peers. Retaining a
student can impact the individual to the core, and can develop a false image of them self, which
could cause a child to identify with a false sense of who they are inside. Children can even
develop an inferiority complex that can follow them into adulthood. Children who are retained
often feel less capable, receive lower test grades, and behave badly (Aldridge & Goldman, 2007).
When a students self-efficacy is attacked by retention, students begin to struggle in other aspects
of life for instance relationships, education, and the possibility for future success.
Retaining a student was once believed to help improve the students education. If a
student is not up to par with the grade standards, then being held back a year will bring them up
to par, right? According to Jimmerson, Woehr, and Kauffman (2007), whether retaining students
is, used to address low performance and/or behavior problems, research generally has not found

PROMOTE OR NOT: CHOOSING A CHILDS FUTURE

favorable achievement or adjustment outcomes for students who are retained (p.1). Students
who were retained are not benefiting academically or socially from being retained. Schools are
spending millions of dollars re-educating our students, and yet there is no significant evidence of
the promotion rate increasing. If retaining students was actually helping, we should be able to see
a rise in academic achievement, but we arent (Russo, 2005). Since retaining students does not
have a positive impact on their education, or on their self-concept, is it possible for retaining
students to affect their future successes?
After thirteen years of school, countless hours of studying, pages and pages of
homework, there comes a point in our students lives where they can see the end, high-school
graduation. Unfortunately, for many of our students, this is a point they will never meet, a point
where many of our students fail to achieve, and as a result, they dont graduate. But why?
Students who are held back more than once, have a higher chance of becoming high school
dropouts. Grade retention is a good predictor of success in high school; in fact, students who are
retained more than once have little to no chance to graduate from high school (Jimmerson, et. al.,
2007). Grade retention causes our students to fail to thrive in the education system, and fail to
succeed in the eyes of the American government, and will not be able to succeed in our
competitive world.
Many times, when a child is retained, they are not given any special accommodations
such as tutoring, to ensure their success for the future. If retaining a student is the only option,
those who are retained need to be given extended tutoring time, and teachers must dedicate the
time to help their students advance in school. Another way to lower the rate of retention is to
ensure every student is given the proper resources in a classroom, during their first attempt in a
grade level not the second. In conclusion, grade retention affects many aspects of a students life

PROMOTE OR NOT: CHOOSING A CHILDS FUTURE

from the relationships with their peers, their perception of who they are, how they feel about
themselves, and ultimately decides the future success of a student in society.

PROMOTE OR NOT: CHOOSING A CHILDS FUTURE

References
Aldridge, J., & Goldman, R. (2007). Current issues and trends in education. Boston, MA:
Pearson.
Jimerson, S. R., Woehr, S. M., & Kaufman, A.M. (2007). Grade retention and promotion:
Information
for parents. National Association of School Psychologists, 1-3.
Russo, A. (2005). Retaining retention. Education Next, 5(1), 43-48.