In my class the other day we were talking about holding back kids. In the classroom that I am working in they are trying to decide if they should hold a boy whose parents are in jail or should they move him along because he has made friends and they don't want to take that away from him after he has had his parents taken away. So the question is do you think you should hold kids back or not?

I think you should only hold backs that are really suffering in a classroom. I do not see what his parents being in jail have to do with him being held back. Maybe I read it wrong.When you hold them back simply because they are slightly behind it doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I do not see how keeping them behind is going to help them excel. If they are moved along with their friends they will be learning on the same level with them instead of in a classroom where the children are behind him. I think if the student is around children that are higher than him academically speaking he will catch up and do better.

I agree with Megan- this child should not be held back simply because of his situation at home. Are his grades suffering? If he is performing poorly in class that might be different. But even if he does have poor grades his situation at home is so unstable if he is comfortable with his friends at school I think they should do whatever they can to keep him with them. A child needs as much stability as possible in their lives. If he gets held back in school then I do not think his grades would benefit. I think that his grades would suffer even more, and that would set him up for a lot more difficulty.

A lot of professors have said that you should never hold a child back in school. I have always disagreed with this mentality. That's not to say that I think that if a child is facing adversity or is struggling a little bit you should refer them and jump to keep them behind, but in some cases, I firmly believe that holding back (particularly in early grades) is an acceptable and necessary course of action. Like Joni and Megan have said, if the child's grades aren't suffering drastically because of this home life and if he seems to be adjusting well, then there is not cause to hold him back. But if a child is noticeably behind, you've worked with them all year to get them on track, and they are still not improving, then I think retention needs to be seriously looked at. And if the child is younger (Kindergarten or 1st grade) then I don't think that holding them back is going to do that much damage. I can see why there would be debate about holding a student over grade 4 or 5 back, but if you catch them early, then you can prevent a lot of problems and help them earlier in their school careers by holding them back. I don't think you can discount retention in every case, because in my opinion, there are some situations and students that call for it.