Social promotion policies came about in the 1950’s in the United States, and were implemented throughout the 1950’s and 1960’s. These no fail policies were followed in the States for decades, teachers believing that the policies would improve the students’ images of oneself and their attitudes towards school. The argument for social promotion practices at this time was that if students are given low marks and held back from moving to the next level, then drop-out rates will significantly increase. However, in the last few years in the United States retention policies are becoming more accepted. According to Bonner, (1999) “Retention is slightly preferred over social promotion.”