I felt the need to write this letter to tell what it means to be left behind. Those parents who want to have their son repeat first grade should talk to some people who know how it really affects people.
I repeated third grade and lost all my old friends except those in our neighborhood. And even today, whenever age comes up, I'm still asked: "How come you are whatever age I am when you graduated from high school in 1964?"
The same thing happened to my son. My biggest regret is that I didn't fight harder to have him promoted.
From third grade forward, we had one mess after another. My son hated school, and it was more of a struggle to get him through each year. He finally made it through high school with D's. After graduation, he had such low self-esteem that he got into a lot of trouble. He is 30 now and has a good job and finally feels good about himself. - Left Behind
Answer: No one can predict how retention will affect an individual. Unfortunately the effects are often quite negative.