My aunt has her son in private school and one day I heard my mom talking on the phone about how the teacher didn't wanna promote my cousin to the next grade level but did it when she threatened to pull him (and her money) out of that school. One of the faulty aspects of a private (money talks) education. That would have never happened in public school.

This is an interesting debate. I think that it is unfortunate for the student that would get promoted because his parents said they would pull him (therefore, tuition too) if not promoted.

I would rather see teachers in tune with my son to know he should be held back and not feel that they want to keep the school in money and promote him when he should not be.

My public school early elementary experience was that I was in Chicago, had parents who did not help with with studies, and teachers that did not care. So, I did the very least to get by and did not understand a lot and was certainly not a good student. Yet, I passed every year. Once I got to a small rural school in 6th, I was afforded better instuction, and became a great student for the remainder of my years.

So, not trying to diss your aunt, but I would rather my kid in a school setting where things are noticed, rather than just floating through in a public school.

Parents only shortchange their kids by doing that. If the child hasn't proven themselves capable of completing a their current grade level, throwing him into the next is just gonna sink him lower and lower into quicksand.

Something similar happened to me when I was in grade 4. I hinged on being held back and my mom and dad met with the principal to barter and threaten. Finally they agreed to let me go into the 5th grade if I went to summer school.

No parent wants to accept their child being held back I guess. I passed summer school and got to go into the correct grade the next fall.

That's not a fair representation of all private schools. It's not a common thing. And that might happen in a public school, you never know - a lot of public schools are toilets.

In a perfect world, that should be enough to get the kid expelled from school; but money makes the world go round, so I can believe that this sort of thing happens a lot in the private school system.

That's only setting the child up to fail eventually. By the time they get to college, bribery and blackmail won't work.

Yeah, any parents who actually would do a thing like that, they've got a HELL of a lot more money than brains.