Should schools practice social promotion?

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I still like "Should schools practice social promotion?" as the most straightforward option.

I'd also be fine with Nick's suggestion, depending on what everyone else prefers.

I'm with espie and Jenna here, "Should schools practice social promotion?" We all know what it means, and it doesn't get us all tongue-tied to say it.

I think the wording is too contrived. How about:

"Should students that fail a grade be made to repeat it?"

This avoids having to specify language that is the opposite of "repeating". It also places the focus more on the student than the process, in my opinion. In general, I just think it's a simple construction.

I'm all for your last one.  ("Should schools practice social promotion?")  It's by far the most straightforward, and I don't see why we wouldn't use "social promotion."  People who have a stand will most likely use that term, themselves.  It's not like "pro-life" vs. "pro-choice," where use of the term pegs which side you're on -- both sides (pro, con) use the same term.

"Academically failing" smacks of euphemism, and I think wordy issues are too confusing to read and decipher. I'd prefer keeping close to the form I proposed. Maybe we could say, "if they are failing" instead of "if they have failing grades," to alleviate any confusion regarding schools that don't give out grades.

Regardless of the various attempts we see to preserve the feelings of parents and children, the fact remains that virtually all schools have academic standards from year to year, and if you don't meet that standard, the word for it is "failing."

Also, "even" would introduce a bias against social promotion.

All that said, I'd be for using the phrase "social promotion" if people don't think it's too buzz-wordy. It might help focus the debate and ease the public figure process. Something like, "Should schools practice social promotion?"

This is a major educational issue, hot topic, with a lot of "yes" stands (as counterintuitive as that may be).  Major initiatives on this in Chicago and New York I think, I can look that up.

Why not use "social promotion"?  You're right that it's the term that is used. 

Oh, I just tried to use it and it was harder that I thought.  OK I like yours.  :-)

I'd suggest the addition of "even," though, as in "Should students be promoted to the next grade along with their peer group even if they are academically behind?"

(I ended up changing it a bit more, this is often an issue with the youngest kids and they don't always have grades [as in A, F, etc.].)

Or maybe, "Is social promotion an effective educational policy?"

this seems like such a no brainer but i recognize people actually do pass when they're failing.  do you really think we'll pin anyone down on this issue as being a "yes".  i dont' think anyone will actually admit it.

The buzzword for this is "social promotion."