Very quickly, December arrived and grades came due. A stark choice. I realized that I was standing at a brink where many of these students' teachers must have stood before. When President Clinton called for an end to social promotion in last year's State of the Union address, the federal government, school boards and state governments began looking more closely at an issue that has been the focus of research for several years. In a 1996 national survey conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates, more than half of the high school teachers questioned said they had promoted unprepared students in the past year, with most teachers adding that they did not think there were better alternatives.
Students build self-esteem, parents gain peace of mind, and schools save money.
My sister, a special education teacher in an elementary school in West Virginia, has also told me that she was more than happy to pass a boy last year who spent much of his time running around the classroom determined to be the sole object of her attention. All teachers, I now realize, stand to benefit from social promotion in the short-term. I was not teaching special education students, but I could see the temptation to pacify the more difficult members of my class by passing them. But attitudes of that sort were not typical. Many of my students were among the strongest believers in the value of education that I've met.