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What
are the advantages or benefits to society of the practice of social promotion?
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| Social promotion
is the term used to describe the practice of passing a pupil from one grade
or level to the next when the child has not completed all the requirements
to qualify for that promotion. |
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| The
practice is justified by saying the child may obtain damage to her or his
psyche. |
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| The disappointment
may contribute to the pupil having lower self esteem or a lower sense of
self worth. |
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| It is further
justified by the notion that it is the responsibility of the school to
ensure that pupils are happy and have high self respect. |
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| It
can be questioned that social promotion avoids lower self esteem. |
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| If the socially
promoted pupil finds out that s/he has been given a promotion without achieving
the requirements, that, too, may equally contribute to low self esteem. |
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| It also contributes
to people obtaining creditation without having the qualifications implied
by the creditation. |
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| In general,
and throughout society, if it depends upon those certifications for the
distribution of jobs and privileges, it puts unqualified individuals in
positions where they are expected to be qualified. |
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| Our urban industrial
and post-industrial society is one which relies on creditation, so its
strength is reduced. |
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| Drivers who
pay for their licenses when they could not pass a driving test, doctors,
pilots and persons in life-or-death occupations, get their positions because
of their certificates. |
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| If they obtained
them without having the qualifications, society may be hindered in its
functioning. |
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| The question
of why a college or university level instructor would "socially promote"
a student takes the concept out of the text book (where it implied something
done at the public school levels) and asking if it might apply to the giving
of grades to College students. |
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| By extension,
it would mean giving a passing grade instead of failure, or a high grade
instead of a low grade because that would make a student feel better. |
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| It is my opinion
that giving a higher grade than one earned by a student serves no social
benefit, or serves negative benefits (costs) to society. |
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| It
would allow untrained persons to obtain certificates (or entrance into
a university). |
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| Instructors
are often approached by students who complain about their grades, because
they are upset, or because they need a higher grade to get into the university. |
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| Raising their
grades on those bases, instead of their academic achievements, serves to
lower the college standards and contribute to more people having certificates
that do not reflect their abilities or achievements. |
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| Apart from
giving higher grades to make them feel better, if an instructor gives higher
grades in return for receiving favours of any kind, it is more than social
promotion. It is corruption (bribery) whether what is offered is sexual
or monetary or otherwise. |
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| I have worked
in many countries where this is a common practice rather than an occasional
deviation, but that has not changed my opinion that is serves no social
benefit, or rather generates social costs. |
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