Robert being initially held back was beneficial for his development. In addition to receiving the support needed from his parents and school staff, the additional time allowed for them to pinpoint the root of his behavioral problems (lack attention and boredom). On the other hand, if Robert had not been held back, he might have been wrongly diagnosed as immature. According to Davis, Rimm, and Siegle (2011), children who are younger and smaller are often falsely assumed to be immature. Robert would have been the youngest in his class and could have potentially been labeled as immature, resulting in his school not realizing his behavior problems stemmed from his lack of attention and boredom. Overall, being retained usually has a negative connotation
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The main reason I jumped to this conclusion, is due to the resulting differences in age. There are certain things children of age can do that children under age are unable to do. For instance, students who go to college early are usually unable to receive the full college experience. This is not due to their lack of maturity, but simply due to their age restrictions. That student may be fully capable of interacting socially and performing at a high level academically, but no one can control someone’s age. I believe that age and perception of age is the main reason why there is such discrepancy between what research says about the social and emotional adjustment of students who have skipped a grade and what teachers perceive as the problem. For example, a study conducted by Terri Richardson and Camilla Benbow (1990) suggest that appropriate educational acceleration does not result in social or emotional maladjustment, but rather enhances social and emotional adjustment. It would be very difficult for a teacher who has encountered bad experiences with accelerated students previously to believe their research. Most people simply believe what they see and have experienced. As a result, I believe that those previous bad experiences cause teachers to perceive accelerated students in a negative
The main reason I jumped to this conclusion, is due to the resulting differences in age. There are certain things children of age can do that children under age are unable to do. For instance, students who go to college early are usually unable to receive the full college experience. This is not due to their lack of maturity, but simply due to their age restrictions. That student may be fully capable of interacting socially and performing at a high level academically, but no one can control someone’s age. I believe that age and perception of age is the main reason why there is such discrepancy between what research says about the social and emotional adjustment of students who have skipped a grade and what teachers perceive as the problem. For example, a study conducted by Terri Richardson and Camilla Benbow (1990) suggest that appropriate educational acceleration does not result in social or emotional maladjustment, but rather enhances social and emotional adjustment. It would be very difficult for a teacher who has encountered bad experiences with accelerated students previously to believe their research. Most people simply believe what they see and have experienced. As a result, I believe that those previous bad experiences cause teachers to perceive accelerated students in a negative