Hardly a day goes by that I don’t hear about how the American school system is catastrophically failing and how we’re going to be overtaken by China as a result. Fear-mongering aside, it is clear to anyone who has been through the system that it is flawed. Some of those flaws come from a lack of support for exceptional students, especially those who aren’t privileged enough to advocate for themselves.
In order to make schooling opportunities more equitable, school districts and administrators need to make it more clear to parents what alternatives to traditional education are available for students who aren’t being challenged. They also need to be more open to allowing students to skip grades if other accelerated programs are nonexistent or not enough. And then they need to apply a common metric to every student so the process is fair.
Like most people, I hated middle school and did almost anything I could to remove myself from it, including skipping seventh grade. The process was relatively painless because my parents were active in my schools all throughout my education. When I told my parents how much I hated school and how bored I was, they were willing and able to do something about the situation. My dad called the school counselor and discussed making the change and it was made. I never had to speak to any administrator about what I wanted, and no one ever questioned whether or not I was ready to skip a grade.
The change was beneficial for me. I got to take a math class at the high school, and being with a peer group that was slightly more mature made an awful experience into a much shorter, less awful experience. When I got into high school, I was able to take advanced classes that were far more engaging because I had been given a head start in middle school. I also had friends among the upperclassmen that I wouldn’t have been able to meet until a year later.
I have no regrets about skipping seventh grade.
Unfortunately, for many other people who would benefit from skipping a grade, my situation was exceptional. Had my school district not been equipped to bus me to the high school for classes, or lacked an accelerated program like the one I was placed in, skipping a grade would have had the sole effect of shortening middle school by one year. Had my parents not been as engaged with the school administration they would never have known how to approach the problem, and the people with the power to make the change might have been less willing to do so.
Promotion can also be contingent on IQ tests or other socio-economically biased tests, which further reduces equity of access. Aside from questions of access, administrators and parents who are afraid of damaging children academically and socially by promoting them sometimes choose not to do so. This would be fine if there were other options in place, like accelerated courses or individualized learning programs, but in so many school districts there aren’t.
Because of a lack of information and equity, students who could be benefiting from skipping a grade are discouraged from doing so. Improving those two aspects of the process is an easy way to improve the education system.
The take: Skipping grades can be enormously beneficial, but the system needs to make it easier.
Reach contributing writer Emily Leland at development@dailyuw.com. Twitter: @emilyjleland
