Potential Pitfalls Of Grade Skipping

Particularly in my community, a bizarre trend has developed among the parents. Towards the end of an academic year in schools, especially private ones, there comes parental pressure for grade skipping. When they come to school to collect their children's results, many of them demand that their child be promoted from grade one to grade three or from grade five to grade seven. When asked for reasons, all of them have a typical response, "They are overage," which cannot be true. 

The children's age is just right for the grade where they are promoted by the school. The parents insist that their children can cope with the situation. They even agree to assist their children in studies but unfortunately, most of them will not. 

 When I pass through the school corridor, I overhear them chatting with each other, which brings out the real reason for their intense desire behind their children's grade skipping. It is related to money. According to these parents, it is a waste of money; if they make their children skip a grade, they can save the money of an entire year.  If you are sending your child to a private school for better education, it does not make any sense that you want to save petty money by risking the child's holistic development. 

Adverse effects 

Yes, there is a provision of grade skipping in the education system worldwide; for this, certain criteria should be met. It is sad to say that the insistent parents do not want to hear about all this. It seems that they are unaware of the adverse effects of grade skipping on their children's lives. Some students are gifted, and they show exceptional academic abilities. However, only academic excellence may not be enough to skip a grade. In addition, they must have excellent social skills and emotional development. Such students can cope with the challenges that they encounter at a higher grade level. They are ready to handle the situations at the upper grade. 

Once these students are identified, the principal, teachers, and parents sit together and decide whether to allow the exceptional students to skip a grade. There is no doubt, the academically advanced students can benefit from grade skipping. The available research also shows that grade skipping is in favour of the exceptional learners. For example, James Kulik, who has studied for more than twenty-five years how gifted children fare in schools, says that acceleration makes a huge difference in the academic achievement of bright students.

Unfortunately, this is not the case in the schools of our community. It is only parents who make a decision for their children's grade acceleration and they are not necessarily the gifted ones. The poor children have to pay a huge price for their parents' unwise decision. Therefore, the parents must be aware of the potential drawbacks associated with grade skipping.

First of all, there is a knowledge gap. As students skip a whole year, they cannot relate the content they have already learned in their earlier grade to the content of the new grade because the sequence of the course content will have already been broken down. To make this up, they have to work for extra hours, which obviously will increase their workload in comparison to their peers. Because of this, they may lose interest in their studies forever.  Once brilliant students in the previous grades will turn out to be just average students in most cases. In other words, they may not excel to the fullest in the upper grades. Surely, the parents do not want this.

Another factor to consider is that the grade skippers may face social and emotional challenges. As they need to mix with older students, they may find it uncomfortable and they prefer to be isolated. This develops the feeling of loneliness in them. Sometimes, the grade-skipped students can be the victims of bullying for being younger or different. They become emotionally weak and avoid taking challenging tasks because of the fear of failure. Thirdly, finding themselves unfit in the group of older students, the grade skippers may develop inappropriate behaviour, such as arrogance, tantrums, lying, stealing, kicking, bullying, using swear words and so on.  Gradually, they become uncontrollable, which will become a headache for teachers and parents as well.

Holistic development

Now it is clear that grade skipping is not an option for all students. A handful of children who are exceptional in academic, social and emotional advancement can skip a grade and it will be a blessing for them. In other cases, it is safe to upgrade students according to their age level and grade level. Many educators also agree that keeping a child with their age group is the safest way to go. In her article 'Pros and Cons of Skipping a Grade,' Connie Matthiessen, a San Francisco writer and editor, mentions that one of her coworkers always regretted skipping first grade. So he suggested, "Childhood is short enough as it is. Why hurry kids any more than you need to?"

My dear parents, when you go to your child's school next time with a proposal of grade skipping, please think through all the advantages and disadvantages of your proposal. The school principal and your child's teachers may be more knowledgeable and concerned than you regarding the child's holistic development. So, do not forget to consult with them whether it is a good idea for your son or daughter to skip a grade.  

   (Dr Sharma is the director of Vidya Shilpa Academy, Damak, Jhapa.)