| To protect children's self-esteem or deflect | | | | doing homework or studying hard if they |
| complaints by parents, many public schools | | | | advance to the next grade no matter how bad |
| today automatically advance failing students | | | | they do in class? That would be dumb, and |
| to the next grade level. In other schools, | | | | these kids are not dumb. |
| some students are left back a maximum of one | | | | |
| year, then promoted again regardless of their | | | | When students who should be failing |
| academic skills. | | | | automatically advance to the next grade from |
| | | | elementary school through high school, the |
| The No Child Left Behind Act tries to solve | | | | problem keeps getting worse. By graduation |
| this problem. The federal government is | | | | day, some students who graduate can barely |
| pressuring public schools to set minimum | | | | read their own diplomas. In effect, these |
| standards that each student must pass before | | | | students get a counterfeit diploma that is |
| advancing to the next grade. | | | | nothing more than a twelve-year attendance |
| | | | record. |
| However, in spite of these new laws, many | | | | |
| states still have semi-automatic advancement | | | | What does automatic promotion teach children? |
| based on the student's overall per-formance. | | | | Many students tend to set their standards no |
| Many schools consider a student's "portfolio" | | | | higher than what their teachers or school |
| of work, attendance record, or other | | | | expects of them. Automatic promotion lets |
| mitigating factors. Based on these factors, | | | | students coast along with little or no |
| the school may advance students to the next | | | | effort, knowing they will advance to the next |
| grade, even though they do poorly on their | | | | grade even if they never study or do their |
| tests or read at a previous grade level. | | | | homework, or receive low grades on their |
| | | | tests. Automatic promotion also tells kids |
| For example, a dedicated California 7th-grade | | | | they can succeed in life without effort or |
| math teacher wrote to Dr. Laura Schlessinger, | | | | perseverance. |
| radio talk-show host, about this problem. She | | | | |
| said that about 30 percent of her students | | | | Besides creating millions of graduating |
| did not do their daily homework assignments, | | | | illiterates, automatic promotion tells kids |
| but she could do nothing about this. That is | | | | that mediocrity and laziness are acceptable. |
| because the California Education code forbids | | | | It tragically sets children up to fail later |
| teachers from "punishing" students for | | | | in life when reality smacks them in the face |
| failing to do their homework. | | | | -- when they apply for college or a job. |
| | | | These are not lessons that schools should be |
| She also said that students are "not | | | | teaching our children. |
| retained" if they fail one class or fail all | | | | |
| their classes. "Not retained" is a polite way | | | | Parents can avoid this problem by taking |
| of saying not left back. | | | | their children out of public school and |
| | | | taking advantage of the great education |
| Students may not want to do their homework | | | | options Joel Turtel describes in his book, |
| because it bores them to death, but these | | | | "Public Schools, Public Menace. |
| kids are smart anyhow. Why should they bother | | | | |