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An inner struggle...Promote or Retain



MAY 20, 2014

For just the second time in my ten years as an educator, I had to contemplate retaining a student in his current grade.

The first time I was faced with this decision, I had just one year under my belt. My lack of experience showed as I immediately looked at the student's grades and concluded that sub-par grades justified the decision. This student's poor attitude toward schoolwork and toward anyone in authority made the decision easy to make at the time. It was almost like a form of punishment for her, which I was glad to administer.

This time, I had come across several articles about the negative effects of retention. How it damages self-confidence and self-esteem. How it actually reduces desire to improve. How it typically has the opposite effect of the one desired. Now, I'm not advocating the idea of social promotion -- the idea of promoting a student to keep him with his age-appropriate peers, regardless of failing grades. The proponents of social promotion argue that they seek to avoid the damaging effects of retention to the student's psyche. While I somewhat agree with this, I also believe that there are some students who would benefit more by solidifying their foundations where weak points have been discovered. It does the student no good if we pass them along to material that builds on the foundation blocks they haven't laid for themselves.

In the case of the student above, what could I have done differently? I could have recognized her lack of structure at home and had more compassion. I could have seen her as a struggling student as opposed to a failing one and had more compassion. I could have actually applied the compassion to offer her more help. Looking back at how I handled her situation makes me feel ashamed. I took the easy road and, without much thought, I held her back. The nobler thing to do may have been to exasperate all options to help her through her struggles first. Perhaps even after the help, she would've failed, but I'll never know.

Every situation in life presents a valuable learning experience. As I recalled this circumstance from years past, I began to rethink the decision process for my current scenario. This student also struggles, more due to a learning disability combined with a lackadaisical attitude toward school work.  At first, I took the same approach as before. Surely, a poor work ethic and failing grades justified retention, right? ....

 "COMPASSION"

This student needs to realize that there are consequences for his lack of achievement...right?

 "COMPASSION"

We've done so much for him and catered to him in so many ways to give him advantages others don't receive. Isn't that enough?...

"COMPASSION"

The more I tried justifying my decision, the more the Holy Spirit was convicting me. Funny how He makes us recall things from the distant past, like the student mentioned above. I recalled how crushed she was. I remember how it negatively affected her self-esteem. I remember how she grew more defiant because of it. I remembered how she got a bad taste for Christian education, and how she probably still has it today. I remember the embarrassment she felt at the beginning of the next year as other students whispered about her retention. I remembered how I left options on the table (like tutoring, summer school, help classes) and how I wanted her to suffer the consequences for having put me through such mental distress in dealing with her. The shame still haunts me because, though we showed compassion on her many times, there was more compassion to extend to her, and we didn't.

As the meeting with the parent of my current student drew closer, I grew more and more unsure about my once adamant stance on his retention. The whole time, I thought of the young lady whose life I had negatively affected because I showed little compassion for her. Her retention was definitely justifiable based on her performance alone, but there were other factors to consider and I didn't.

This time around, I didn't want to make that mistake again. As an educator, there must be a component of compassion present when formulating opinions and finalizing a decision that affects others. It is important to not let my emotions and personal vendettas affect the the process of evaluating a student's academic future. I will do as much as I can to help this student. I will even inconvenience myself to ensure every ounce of compassion has been used. It may very well be in this student's best interest to be held back, but I will exasperate all my options before concluding retention is the best.

UPDATE: AUGUST 1, 2014
So glad I took the time with this student. After eight weeks of summer tutoring and discovering techniques specific to his disability that work for him, he has shown capabilities in doing quality work! The best part came when he set his own goal of achieving a 100% on a spelling test (his worst subject). He got a 99! The confidence on him radiated for the final hour of his tutoring session! Proud to say he EARNED promotion!

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