I am a math teacher (11 years). I teach 5/6th grade math to high schoolers (yeah… I know). Every now and again, I have a student who knows absolutely nothing about math even by the end of the semester, yet their semester average is just above 65%. It’s my fault for letting their average get that high. Usually I try to be generous with grading. But the fact is, they still can’t add. They can’t tell me 1/2 = 2/4. They can’t double a simple recipe. They can’t tell me x + x + x = 3x. So, I play around with their grades and they end up getting a 63 and failing the semester. Then they repeat with me again, and I teach them the content all over again. Some of my coworkers know I do this and think I’m a monster. I think it’s how we save education: trust teachers to assess who actually knows the content & hold back those who don’t. We can’t keep socially promoting kids.