Lawmakers, principals, teachers, and parents clearly find it hard to hold back struggling pupils, whether they’re failing high school exit exams or elementary school grade-level tests. This hesitancy to hurt kids’ feelings—or, as we’re usually asked to believe, to gravely damage their social skills, self-esteem, etc.—in fact probably leaves them worse off for the amount of knowledge and skills they lose. That’s the thinking at Bruce Randolph Middle School in Denver, where principal Kristin Waters has ended social promotion.