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Well, I'm in the older crowd, but in my day you could graduate with a C average (although my father would have killed any of us who dared that, lol).
I have friends who "failed"; didn't get a C average. They were held back because they weren't intellectually ready to deal with the material in the next grade. So, they ended up graduating a year late, or in rarer cases, 2 years late. But they graduated, achieving at least a C average based on objective standards. They were still my friends, and my age cohorts. I thought no less of them as friends because of their academic shortcomings.
Now, with the dumbing down of the education system (yes, it really has happened), it takes an Herulean effort to have your child held back if (s)he is not ready for the next grade, be it academically or emotionally. My neighbour had this situation. His son was slow to develop, but went through kindergarten and grade one with the kids his age, including my son. He simply could not deal with grade one & it took many meetings with the school administration, social workers, doctors, and the parents to allow him to repeat the first grade. His aural dyslexia was finally diagnosed, and controlled, and he has progressed normally ever since.
I cannot fathom how a higher grade teacher can stand the frustration of dealing with children who really through no fault of their own have been advanced without having mastered certain key concepts. I do know the frustration of children forced to sit through class after class as those teachers try to bring those other students up to speed.
There is nothing magic about advancing with the kids of your own age. Reason must return to the education system before it is too late.
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The secret to great marksmanship is deciding what the target was AFTER you've shot.
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