You are fortunate to have been from a different culture—and not having TV or cell phones is certainly a large part of it.
I imagine because of the tendency to automatically pass people, half of the second gradesrs this teacher is dealing with still can’t really read. Probably not a problem that your second grade teacher had to deal with.
Nope, no social promotions or multiple repeats of a grade. Catholic schools had waiting lists and if you couldn’t cut it, you were out.