Hello. I have a student who is interested in understanding the pros and cons of retention. Would any parents of children who were retained (or if you were retained yourself) be willing to discuss (either by email or phone) retention with him?
Thank you for your help. Chris
Re: RETAINING A STUDENT
I assume this is a student doing research and has been scoping out the written stuff, and is looking for some ‘primary sources.’
My godchild was retained in fifth grade and it was a very good thing for her. She had missed 6 weeks of school due to a playground accident that broke her femur & required surgery & assorted other complications. Academically she was in mostly special ed classes and this let her keep the same (really good) teacher, and let her use her excellent social skills to make a transition from being a follower to being a leader in the class. It also meant postponing the Move To Middle School for a year (and that her former classmates weren’t even in the same school, which was a little bit painful but not too bad). In hindsight it was the right move. She’ll graduate in May (I *think* wtih a regular diploma, but I’m not sure.)
Most of the time retentions at that age have *lots* of potential negatives; they just didn’t apply in this case.
Is your student in danger of being retained, or are they studying to be a teacher/administrator/whatever and are looking at this from the POV of being the retainor as opposed to the retainee?
I am of the opinion that promoting for social reasons is 100% wrong. I am also of the opinion that when retention occurs or is imminent it should be a signal to the school that what they are offering the child is innapropriate for their needs and it is time to begin seeing what the child should be offered to make sure retention is not the final result and that the child is simply not thrown against the same wall for another year to face another retention or drop out.