August 11, 2009
Bloomberg to stop “social promotion” policy for fourth and sixth graders

Posted at 9:42 am, in: Education
Tags: Michael Bloomberg, New York City, Social Promotion

Mayor Bloomberg brings commons sense back to NYC’s educational system:

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said on Monday that he planned to make it harder this year for fourth and sixth graders who score poorly on standardized tests to move on to the next grade, extending a policy that his re-election team hopes will help him curry favor with voters.

Under the requirements, which are already in place for grades three, five, seven and eight, students who perform at the lowest level on state tests in English and math will have to repeat the grade unless they can master the material in summer school.

Previously, under a policy known as social promotion, school officials gave a pass to low-performing students under the belief that they would be more likely to drop out if they were held back and separated from children their own age.

This is another one of those feel good policies that liberals support without ever considering the unintended consequences. The purpose of social promotion is to allow students to move up to the next grade who are not academically prepared to make that move because no one wants to hurt their feelings or self-esteem. As the article suggests, this is somehow supposed to prevent them from dropping out later in life.

In reality, students are socially promoted to the next grade, lacking the foundation and building blocks necessary to succeed in that grade. When they fail that grade, they are socially promoted again, until they hit high school, that is. At that point, they are forced to actually pass classes in order to advance and graduate. Unable to keep up with their peers and pass classes, at some point they give up and quit. Not only do they leave school without a high school diploma, no education, and no skills to show for it, their self-confidence and self-worth has been shattered as they view themselves as unintelligent failures. Way to go liberal policies!

I know a person who was socially promoted all throughout middle school. The school, in order not to hurt his feelings and to keep him in classes with his peers, socially promoted him for four years. It took him one year to drop out of high school. He has never even attempted his GED. Why would he? They sent him into freshman year with a fourth grade education. He didn’t stand a chance. How do you think that left him feeling about his self-image?

Unfortunately, parents are bullied into believing this garbage by the schools, thinking that these professional educators and counselors know best, and they allow for this to happen to their child. The only people left feeling good about this policy are the oblivious liberals. The educator who goes home and pats himself on the back. Good for you! You might have made this kid feel better about himself today, but you have shattered his tomorrow.

I applaud Mayor Bloomberg for bringing common sense back into the educational system and back to America. If a kid can’t compete the teacher should try harder to teach him, rather than just socially promoting him onto the next teacher who will do the same thing. How can a student ever succeed when they have been robbed the opportunity?