Social promotion hinders public schools

By Todd Smith

For years, I have sat back and listened to UCLA students debate
the importance of education in the Daily Bruin. Much of this has
centered on affirmative action, but there is a much more pressing
matter that needs to be addressed. It is the root problem that
results in the “need” for affirmative action. It is the
state of K-12 education in California and all over the United
States.

We have all heard the horror stories of bad teachers, bad
administrators and bizarre curricula that have resulted in a
decline in the quality of education. One recent example of the
decline is the current controversy over social promotion in the Los
Angeles Unified School District.

Social promotion is the policy whereby teachers can pass a
student onto the next grade despite the fact that the student has
not learned enough to do so. Sometimes, this is done in hopes that
the student will catch up one day. And there are probably times
when a teacher just wants to get rid of the student after a year.
This practice, along with many other ill-conceived policies, has
resulted in a state and country filled with thousands if not
millions of students unprepared to face their next step in
life.

Some say that holding a child back a year can be damaging
socially or emotionally. But if the child is promoted to the point
of graduating from the 12th grade, yet is functionally illiterate
and has no real skills (which happens more often than people would
like to admit), he or she faces irreparable damage. This completely
dwarfs any temporary embarrassment from being held back.

In an experimental program, LAUSD plans to flunk nearly 13,500
students this June, but this will be limited to eighth and
second-graders. Unless they dramatically improve their scholastic
performance during summer school, some 3,800 eighth-graders and
about 9,700 second-graders will be held back.

This is a step in the right direction, but it illustrates some
key points. First, thousands of students are not receiving a good
education. Second, Los Angeles is unwilling or unable to do the
right thing, which is to hold back all students, at all grade
levels, who aren’t learning.

I guess we shouldn’t worry about all the first-, third-,
fourth-, fifth-, sixth- and seventh-graders, plus all the high
schoolers who get passed on this year without a decent education.
It’s nice to see that Los Angeles has almost joined the 18th
century in realizing that if students don’t learn something,
they have to keep trying until they do. This kind of half-hearted
piecemeal reform is exactly what is wrong with the public education
system in Los Angeles.

Critics have said that the proposal may lead to overcrowding,
but maybe it will lead to teachers doing their jobs and making sure
that everyone in class learns the material. It should lead to a
call from citizens and parents for school vouchers and charter
schools that may help to alleviate some of the overcrowding and
allow many students to learn something for a change.

This kind of public school crisis should remind us of the
reasons why supporters of school choice have been calling for
charter schools and vouchers that would allow parents to move their
children to quality schools.

Currently, if a teacher is not doing his or her job, parents
have few if any choices if they want their child to actually
learn.

There is no choice for poor parents. They are stuck with
whatever school the government says they have to attend.

With school choice, parents would be allowed to decide where
their child goes to school.

If the public school is not doing its job, parents could move
their child to a private or charter school that is more responsive
and will be held accountable to the parents, who would in turn
function as consumers who can choose what is best for their
children.

Would you want to live in a town where there is only one general
store run by the government and you have no choice about where you
shop?

Or would you prefer a town where multiple stores compete and
innovate to make shoppers happy? This is not a trick question. But
then, if you have been subjected to social promotion for 12 years,
it may seem that way.

I am forming a new student-run group called Americans for Choice
and Competition to promote better education in California. If you
are interested, please contact us at [email protected].