3 ms·

I'm going to go out on a limb, and say I'll excuse the school for failing him, on the days he didn't go there.

• goldcd 6y ago
  I'm not normally one to get pissy over a down-vote - but "Come on?"
• BeetleB 6y ago
  Will you excuse the school for continually promoting him when he was doing so poorly? The school I went to would not let you advance if you failed a subject (with a few exceptions). You failed math? You don't get promoted. No exceptions. Of course, my school may have had its own set of problems, but this sounds like the opposite extreme.
  • goldcd 6y ago
    No - and I'm guessing my misunderstanding is based on "not-being-American". I'm British and school (at least when I was there)'s purpose was passing a set of exams when you're 16 and then another optionally at 18. There were informal exams throughout, to tack progress. Occasionally it was suggested a pupil was held back a year (if they were so far behind, they wouldn't benefit from the next year) - but that was pretty extreme. Normally pupils were just streamed, so they were put in a class of comparable ability the next year. If they did well they might go up, if they didn't they might go down. If you hit an exam in a low stream, you might get pushed towards an easier exam (with a lower maximum grade available) Basically you as a pupil, were never in any doubt as to your trajectory.