ith math, but I passed every year up until I met Coach Taylor. He was a nonconformist in nearly every sense of the word. He definitely did not jump on the bandwagon of socially promoting students. I learned the hard way about the true aftermath of social promotion that year. I was held accountable for things I didn't know. Therefore, I was fairly distraught to discover I wouldn't be graduating with all my friends. I'd be alone in summer school and when I received my diploma in the mail. Not only was I cheated of skills, I was cheated of the excitement and memories of walking across the stage as everyone applauded. I now am still suffering for my undeserved promotion as I take remedial high school math in college. Students are not the only victims of social promotion. Schools, teachers and businesses are also indirectly cheated by this national crisis. Students who are below level because of social promotion lack the ability to perform menial daily tasks. 340,000 high school graduates a year do not have enough knowledge to balance a checkbook or write a letter to a credit card company regarding a billing error. (www.ed.gov) "Social promotion sends a message to students that little is expected from them, that they have little worth, and that they do not warrant the time and effort it would take to help them be successful in school." (www.ed.gov) "One third of students being below the basic level of proficiency" (www.ed.gov) forces teachers to cheat the on level students of new material. Teachers must re-teach old lessons or skip over portions of current lesson plans because some students don't know or weren't exposed to the necessary material to comprehend new lessons. When teachers re-teach because they care about the students' successful education, it creates a repetitive cycle of social promotion. This cycle is put into motion because the current teacher has not met their original lesson plans. The student is again ...
