The problem is not "social promotion," but a one-size-fits-all solution to education. We assume that children of a certain age should be able to perform at a certain academic level without taking into account the vast differences children experience in development and environment.
Social promotion is an attempt to rectify this by hoping that children will eventually catch-up developmentally to their peers. It is a deeply flawed ideolgy, but so is the one that states that failing kids and making them do the same coursework over again will be beneficial (because it punishes children for something they often have very little control over.)
A better strategy would be to intervene in a "failing" child's schooling before s/he is so far behind that failure is inevitable. Counselling, one-on-one time with educators and redesign of course material so it better reflects the learning styles of children are what is required, not a complete "do-over" of teaching the material in the same ineffective fashion.
Social promotion is an attempt to rectify this by hoping that children will eventually catch-up developmentally to their peers. It is a deeply flawed ideolgy, but so is the one that states that failing kids and making them do the same coursework over again will be beneficial (because it punishes children for something they often have very little control over.)
A better strategy would be to intervene in a "failing" child's schooling before s/he is so far behind that failure is inevitable. Counselling, one-on-one time with educators and redesign of course material so it better reflects the learning styles of children are what is required, not a complete "do-over" of teaching the material in the same ineffective fashion.
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