I know the kids go to school in New York City, so, I wonder what lower and upper grades mean? For instance, Buffy and Jody were promoted to upper 1st grade, but if, they didn't get their math grade up, the would go back to the lower 1st. I went to school in the Midwest, and I don't recall having upper and lower grades. What does it mean?
shareI am not sure why schools used to do that. When I left Kindergarten in 1970, I went on to first grade, and some kids went to " pre-first." I know the children who were put into pre first were behind the other children in grades. I don't know when this was abolished.
shareIn this area (Dallas), they have transitional first grade, which sounds exactly like your "pre-first". Usually, the kids in the transitional class need more time to adjust to the social aspects of school.
shareI can't give you an explanation as to why they did this, but they're different grade levels. Instead of first, second, and third grade, classes were designated as lower first (what we now call first grade), then upper first (what we now call second grade) and then second grade (which would be equivalent to third grade today). This naming convention was from the early 1900's and dropped from use in the late 60's / early 70's. However, it was not standard across the country. It was only used in certain parts (NYC Public Schools being one).
shareOther shows in that era mentioned "upper" grades. In the fifth season opener of The Andy Griffith Show, Andy talks to Opie about a crush he had on a girl in the "upper fifth" grade, when he was in the "lower".
Growing up, I always thought this was just a way to group students by ability, since this concept was foreign to me. I've never really known anyone who went to such a school.
I've never heard of it either--UK schools used to have 'upper and lower forms'--similar to grades--, but I think the idea of US public schools having upper and lower elementary grades sounds more like the product of the writers' imaginations.
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