History Main / HeldBackInSchool

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'' {{avert|edTrope}}s GraduationForEveryone by having [[DumbJock Kevin]] fail his senior year of high school while everyone else in Daria's year gets to GraduateFromTheStory.

* ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead'': In the episode "[[Recap/BeavisAndButtheadS5E01HeldBack Held Back]]", the boys are continuously demoted due to both stupidity and poor social skills. [[StatusQuoIsGod They end up back in high school because the kindergarten teacher refuses to put up with them any longer]].

** Buster is so afraid of being held back, he gets a dream of being held back for so long that Arthur has become the principal while Buster is still a student, and offering to send him back to preschool. (In a school where, in reality, the ''other'' 3rd grade classes are practically at that level, anyway.)

In extreme cases, the character may be held back for 10 -- sometimes even 20, or more -- years. This is usually played for comedy, as the jarring image of a 20- 30- something adult sitting with little kids to learn the alphabets often make a hilarious scene.

Due to there being a stigma surrounding it, characters who are held back are AcceptableTargets - expect this to be used as proof that the character is an idiot, and not just BookDumb either, and very frequently an InsufferableImbecile. Characters who are held back are rarely portrayed sympathetically - and when they are, they often keep this as a hidden shame. This is especially the case in the United States where "No Child Left Behind" laws make it much harder to fail.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* Raimu-sempai in ''Manga/{{Bakuon}}'' was at least twenty when the current principal was a student herself. She's still at school and since she never takes off her helmet, her true age remains a mystery.

** [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Karen]] has been the student council president for twenty years. Although in her case, it's less because of her grades, and more because she works for the [[{{Troll}} Principal]], who has realized that she doesn't have to pay Karen if she's a student.

"*sigh* No, son, it's because you're thirty-five years old."

* Exaggerated in the ''Literature/TheBabySittersClub'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2177005/1/Caludia-Keeshi-Middel-Skol-Mamma Caludia Keeshi Middel Skol Mamma,]]'' where, ten years after the series ended, Claudia is ''still'' in the eighth grade, because she can't be arsed to apply herself and pass the exit exam. Her former charges are now her peers (and some are her fellow BSC members) and her former classmate Cokie is now her ''gym teacher''. It's pretty clear too that, aside from having a car and breast implants, she still has the mentality of a thirteen-year-old (and even hit on a kid with the justification that 'we're in the same grade'). [[spoiler:She finally passes the exit exam at the end and declares how much she'll enjoy starting high school (at age 23-24) with the rest of the club.]] The funny thing is she thinks Claire Pike had it worse: Claire had to repeat fourth, fifth, ''and'' sixth grade.

-->'''Charles De Mar''': Lane, I've been going to this high school for seven and a half years. I'm no dummy.

* ''Film/IfYouCouldSayItInWords'': Sadie's family moved around so much when she was a teen that it disrupted her education. She didn't graduate high school until she was twenty.

--> '''Murph''': I'm senior student in this school.\\
'''Junior''': No shit, you've been here since 1970.

* ''Literature/BothCanBeTrue'': During Ash's first attempt at sixth grade, they missed a month of school due to appendicitis, and while they were in the hospital, their parents split up. As a result, they flunked the year, which is why they're almost fourteen but still in seventh grade.

* ''Literature/IAmJ'': J's friend Chanelle is twenty and still in high school. She's one year off from the cutoff age in NYC. Chanelle plans on going to college to become a poet afterwards.

* In ''Literature/{{Mindblind}}'', GradeSkipper Nathaniel is surprised to learn that his bandmate Logan Finley is still in middle school despite being almost fifteen, like the other band members.
* Victor Tugelbend, the main character of ''Literature/MovingPictures'', starts the novel trying to stay in this state perpetually on purpose. He had inherited an overly generous educational trust fund from a relative, which pays out until he graduates or his grades drop below a B-. Since getting a B+ or above would cause him to graduate, and thus lose his gravy train and have to get an actual job, he goes to considerable effort to ensure that he gets straight Bs, and thus remain a student forever.

* In ''Literature/PetaLyresRatingNormal'', recovering heroin addict Kat is nineteen and trying year eleven for the third time.
* ''Literature/PlanetEarthIsBlue'': When twelve-year-old Nova first starts classes at Jefferson Middle School, she's unhappy to learn that she'll be placed in sixth grade, even though she was already halfway through seventh.

* ''Literature/RainReign'': Rose Howard, who has Asperger's, is in fifth grade despite being almost twelve because the school doesn't know what to do with her.

* Sam from ''Literature/TheManyHalfLivedLivesOfSamSylvester'' spent the first seven years of their life in foster care, where they received almost no education. They're still a year behind everyone else, which is why they're still in high school despite being almost nineteen.

* On ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'' this has happened to Steve Holt three times. There's a FreezeFrameBonus when his various yearbooks are shown and his most recent quote is "study hard guys - trust me"

-->'''Troy''': Everyone is ten for two years because fifth grade is hard for every... one... Mom! How many lies have I been living!

** In addition, several characters were mentioned to have been held back in their backstories - Sean starts the show repeating grade 7, Mia had to repeat grade 8, Tori had to repeat grade 4, and Jonah had to repeat grade 11.

* In the Series Finale of ''Series/DueSouth'', Fraser and the second Ray meet a schoolmate of Fraser's... from fourth grade. Said friend looks to be about twenty years older than Fraser. He was held back a bit.

** Walter Denton is frequently under the threat of being held back, being either BrilliantButLazy or just plain BookDumb. Walter is never actually held back a ''grade'', as Walter Denton (and Harriet Conklin) stay sixteeen or seventeen through the course of the series on radio, television and in TheMovie GrandFinale. NotAllowedToGrowUp means not allowed to fall behind.

** In "The Big Game", it's discovered that beloved Assistant Coach "Snakehips" Gehry never graduated high school. He failed his final English exam some forty years before. Miss Brooks gives him an English exam so he can get his high school diploma and keep his position with the team.
** In the television episode "The Dream", Miss Brooks dreams that Walter Denton takes about twenty-five years to graduate high school.

* ''Series/{{SCTV}}'' - on "Half Wits", a 'Jeopardy'-style quiz show, Martin Short is contestant Lawrence Orbach, about 30 years old, going bald, and still in school. The host asks 'Postgraduate work?' and he replies 'High school.'

* In ''VideoGame/EnsembleStars'', both Ritsu and Rei were held back a year. This helped contribute to Rei's delinquent image that led to him being named as one of the Five Oddballs, but none of the main characters seem to really care - he's well-known as one of the most talented, intelligent, and wise students in school regardless. Ritsu's being held back is rarely brought up, too, with characters being more likely to bring up his current laziness. (Incidentally, Ritsu and Rei are brothers, and both suffer from a chronic disease that leaves them tired during the middle of the day.) Valkyrie was also threatened with this - due to their unit having taken a break for a while due to fine's sabotage and Nazuna's leaving, they almost failed to participate in the mandatory minimum number of performances per school year.

You're nineteen, and you idiots haven't even graduated!\\

* In ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDragonJakeLong'' local JerkJock and BookDumb Brad Morton has been held back at least twice as he bragged to Jake and friends that he was old enough to get his driver's license in one episode and in another announced that he had just done the "Bradster's" ''fourth'' annual eighth grade prank on his middle school's principal, making it uncertain just ''what'' his age actually is beyond being at least sixteen.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddparents'': Francis, the menacing grey kid who bullies Timmy Turner, is mentioned to be twelve years old, but he's still in 5th grade -- depending on when his birthday is, he probably got held back at least once.

--->'''Principal''': Congratulations, you've passed the fourth grade, Mr. Griffin.\\
'''Peter''': Aw, great! Listen, I gotta leave though, I'm going hunting with my son.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'': [[TheDitz Stumpy]] has been held back in school so many times that he's still in kindergarten despite being a ten-year-old.

*** Similarly, Nelson appears to be a case of this, being in fourth grade with Bart:
----> '''Nelson''': Yup, I've been held back more times than I can count. Which is probably why I've been held back so much.

* Parodied in the ''WesternAnimation/WhatACartoonShow'' short ''WesternAnimation/LarryAndSteve''. At one point, Larry mentions that he spent twelve years in kindergarten, but he insists it wasn't because he was stupid. He simply [[DistinctionWithoutADifference got his foot stuck in a radiator]].

* Daidouji from ''VideoGame/SenranKagura'' has been deliberately refusing to take her graduation exam, causing her to repeat the third year in Hanzou Academy for ten years. It is because she wants to defeat her friend Rin before she thinks she is worthy to graduate, which is hard because she has been assumed to be KIA. [[spoiler:In her side story in ''Shinovi Versus'', she finally gets her chance to defeat the still alive Rin, allowing her to graduate]]
* ''VideoGame/SenranKagura Shinovi Versus'' has Miyabi and Imu, both 21 and having to repeat their senior year. An odd example, because they had already graduated from a Shinobi school, but after an incident left Miyabi catatonic for years and Imu taking leave of her duties to care for her, the two are so rusty they need to retrain to re-earn their rank.

* ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead'': In the episode "[[Recap/BeavisAndButtheadS5E01HeldBack Held Back]]", the boys are continuously demoted due to both stupidity and poor social skills. [[StatusQuoIsGod They end up back in high school because the Kindergarten teacher refuses to put up with them any longer]].

* Misuzu, as depicted in ''VideoGame/RiverCityGirls'', claims to have spent ''seven years'' in high school, mainly to earn money as an enforcer at Nekketsu High School.

** In one strip, Calvin's dad finds him not doing his schoolwork, and Calvin claims to be visualizing it. Calvin's dad then tells him to imagine being the only 40-year-old in first grade.

Students in a school setting generally advance up in Years or Grades as they age up and each new year they expand upon the knowledge they should already know. However, sometimes the student in question is forced to remain in their current year while all their peers advance to the next stage. Maybe they're [[SchoolIsForLosers too cool for school]] and they don't work hard. Possibly, they may have been more than mentally capable but have had to repeat due to health issues. Or maybe the sad truth is that it really was the best they could do; but they just can't memorize all 50 states of the [=USA=]. Either way, they get forced to repeat the year/grade with people younger than themselves. This is TruthInTelevision in some countries.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead'' called "Held Back" had the boys be continuously demoted due both to stupidity and poor social skills. [[StatusQuoIsGod They end up back in high school because the Kindergarten teacher refuses to put up with them any longer]].

( ''WesternAnimation/FishHooks'': This happened to Milo, Bea, and Oscar's old friend Kevin, rendering him forgotten by them. Milo's goal in "Fail Fish" is to study for his final exam so the same does not happen to him.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/FanboyAndChumChum'' it's revealed that after Fanboy sneezed on another student's placement exam, rendering it illegible, she was sent back to kindergarten.

* ''WebVideo/DisRapsForHire'': In one season 2 episode, [[BullyHunter Epic Lloyd]] targets Diamond, a school bully who was 16 years old at the time but still in K-8 school:
-->''"You should try to pass class a little faster, guy\\

** DependingOnTheEpisode, Stretch and Bones Snodgrass were either held back in school several times ("The Yodar Kritch Award", TheMovie GrandFinale) or they pass "by the skin of their teeth" ("Two Way Stretch Snodgrass").

** Shimada was held back a year.

->''"I've been held back more times than I can count. Which is probably why I've been held back so much."''
-->-- '''Nelson''', ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''

* Kaoru Orihara from ''Manga/DearBrother'' should be a second-year, but is in Nanako and Mariko's first-year class due to having been ill last year. [[spoiler: Said illness is cancer, and it comes back later.]]

* Exaggerated in the ''Literature/TheBabySittersClub'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2177005/1/Caludia-Keeshi-Middel-Skol-Mamma Caludia Keeshi Middel Skol Mamma]]'', where, ten years after the series ended, Claudia is ''still'' in the eighth grade, because she can't be arsed to apply herself and pass the exit exam. Her former charges are now her peers (and some are her fellow BSC members) and her former classmate Cokie is now her ''gym teacher''. It's pretty clear too that, aside from having a car and breast implants, she still has the mentality of a thirteen-year-old (and even hit on a kid with the justification that 'we're in the same grade'). [[spoiler: She finally passes the exit exam at the end and declares how much she'll enjoy starting high school (at age 23-24) with the rest of the club.]] The funny thing is she thinks Claire Pike had it worse: Claire had to repeat fourth, fifth, ''and'' sixth grade.

* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13823815/1/Second-Year-Second-Try Second Year, Second Try]]'', [[VideoGame/Persona4 Yu Narukami]] fails his classes and gets held back a year, something Rise had imagined happening during the Christmas celebration in canon.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' has [[CreatorsPet Wesley Crusher]] repeat a year at Starfleet Academy, along with the other members of his flight squadron, as punishment for attempting to cover up a training accident that killed another cadet. Picard points out that they were very nearly expelled and only got to stay because their squadron leader (who ''was'' expelled) took all responsibility for the accident ''and'' the cover-up. A later episode had another member of the squadron, Sito Jaxa, talk about how difficult it was to stay at the Academy after that with everyone knowing what they had done.

* In [[https://youtu.be/pXAC4DYzuo4 Mr. Toucan Gets Held Back]], Mr. Toucan is in eighth grade at first and gets held back all the way to preschool for disruptive behavior. And then he gets expelled from preschool.

** Binky is in his 2nd year of 3rd grade. He explicitly states in "The World of Tomorrow" that he hates repeating third grade because among other things, it involves a repeat of the science museum sleepover field trip he loathed; in another, he admits that his insecurities over being held back a grade led him to become a bully.