LETTER: Social promotion only exacerbates problems in Nevada’s schools

Perhaps members of the Nevada Association of School Psychologists might want to rethink their attempts to lobby state legislators. The Review-Journal reports that the group feels being held back is “not good for mental, social and emotional health” (Feb. 8, “Psychologists don’t want third-graders held back”). My thoughts:

1. Each year of social promotion tends to increase and compound the number of skills not mastered.

2. It is far better to irritate a child’s psyche through retention at the third-grade level than to allow year after year of academic failure until the student becomes a disruption, amasses a tremendous number of absences and fails to graduate.

3. Teachers find themselves trying to teach to the highest level possible while also attempting remediation for the under-performing kids. Teachers try to assist this group by offering after-school sessions, individual instruction, specialized homework and/or parent/teacher conferences, for example, but the load is overwhelming.

4. We must realize that mathematics is, in essence, a language. Many students who are not literate in reading are also not literate in mathematics. Pardon the expression, but that becomes a “double whammy” as the school years pass by.

My advice is to retain at the third-grade level and “nip it in the bud,” as the saying goes.