Failing kids and holding them back grades ends up having bad outcomes. On face value it sounds dumb and unfair but it's about the end goal of having functioning members of society. Even when I was in middle school they took kids that had failed a previous grade and skipped them ahead. It's an emotional maturity mismatch thing. Kids that are held back have a much greater potential of dropping out of school which leads them down a very bad path. Pushing them through allows them to mature enough before being thrown out in the world. Some kids just don't do well in school either but things go sideways when people give up, especially with teenagers. The story is still the same, passing some numbnuts through school doesn't take anything away from the high achievers. At risk kids that turn into criminals do take away from everyone's quality of life though. Basically, you pick your poison.
My problem is passing them through a grade when they don't understand the core functions all but guarantees they won't understand the next grades functions.
Math for example - my kid struggled in grade 1 math - they passed him and he understood nothing in grade 2. It's a huge catch-up if you're missing the previous years basics.
My kid always took twice as long as math as others... I'd much rather they failed him, or made him take summer school to pass math, so he went into grade 2 math with the proper knowledge on how to do it.... Vs constantly being behind. His teachers didn't even tell us he was struggling or not understanding the curriculum.
We spent 30 mins a day with him catching him up and explaining how to do things - which of course isn't the way the school taught him, so he still struggled in grade 2/3 - we had to enroll him in private tutoring so he could learn the core math the way the school does it, after a few months he caught up and now he's ahead of the other kids in math.
So by not failing or holding him back, ornat the very least telling his he needs improvement in certain things.... He struggled for years.
I get having a kid fail and not goto the next year with his classmates sucks, but our current system isn't perfect either. Maybe it's better, maybe less kids get left behind.... Maybe they've decided not every kid needs school, but I bet you the same 5 kids in his class who can't read or do basic math are the same 5 kids in grade 12 who can't read or do math. Blindly passing any kid can harm the kid just as much as holding them back, imo.
There is no perfect solution, It just feels to me like it's a participation trophy more than anything now.
What's next... A subpar employee shouldn't get a review, or get fired for doing a job half as good as the next guy because at least he's working and being a part of society? There should be some limit to where this ends... Otherwise in 30 years it'll be half the class who can't do basic things and gets a free pass, then society as a whole is much worst off.