Social Promotion Essay

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Sir Isaac Newton, a famously intelligent scientist, mathematician, and philosopher, once uttered the words that became the widely studied statement know as Newton’s Third Law of Motion: “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” Newton was referring to scientific principles, but his declaration can apply to many other various areas of life. For every decision an individual makes, he or she will be faced with an appropriate consequence, intended or unintended. Social promotion defies this logic; it concludes that if standards are not met, there should still be no repercussions. Social promotion is a widely practiced policy in the United States today and is drastically harming American students. The practice involves promoting …show more content…

Whereas graduating from high school was previously a great accomplishment, it has become so expected and effortless that a high school diploma no longer holds much significance. As a result of the decrease of the worth a high school diploma holds, jobs that should only require a high school degree now require a college degree in an occurrence known as degree inflation. Therefore, students must now pay costly tuition fees just to receive the education that was once free for all students. This degrading of education produces a society of less qualified and less skilled high school graduates. Because high school diplomas are too easy to acquire, many businesses are requiring potential employees to have a college degree. Although this may seem positive, it actually negatively affects many who are intelligent but cannot go to college either because of the cost or other reasons. It lumps these individuals into a category with others who should not have graduated high school. Social promotion yields long-term undesirable consequences for society as a …show more content…

Supporters argue that retention takes an emotional toll on students by leading to negative feelings about school and a low self-esteem (Lynch 295). Some also claim that it increases the drop-out rate because the students feel defamed (Lynch 295). Social promotion saves the school system time and resources as well. Texas, for example, spent in excess of $2 billion to educate the 202,099 students retained during the 2006–2007 school year (Lynch 295). Supporters say that these additional costs are too expensive for school systems, so social promotion is

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