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  • From: Paul Cory <paulcory AT mac.com>
  • To: "InterNetWorkers" <internetworkers AT franklin.metalab.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Public Education
  • Date: Fri, 10 May 2002 14:10:01 -0400



The system deliberately holds back more advanced students so the mediocre
and unmotivated students can grow. When I was in grade school, the system
had accelerated classes which had the brightest students. This allowed them
to grow at a faster rate than the main group. It may sound elitist, but I
can't see how this is bad for civilization.

What do you want? A civilization with a small, super-well educated elite, or a civilization where almost everyone can read, write and do math well enough to participate in a skilled economy?

First off, remember that the public school system is responsible for educating every child: the dumb and the bright, the handicapped and physically gifted, the learning disabled and the regular kid, the motived and unmotivated, the hungry and the well-ed, the emotionally and behaviorally challenged and the mentally stable. These days, we are held much to a much higher standard of meeting that charge than we were in the 50s,60s, and 70s. Back then, if we could let the low end slide to give the high end more resources - the economy had jobs for the unskilled. These days, we can't.

There's a large body of education studies that show that mixed classrooms do little or no harm to high-level kids, but do a lot of good for the moderate to low end students within the standard curriculum. (Note that I doubt the studies were comparing high end achievement to that which might be gained through a more rigorous curriculum). Since we have to maximize achievement for every child on a limited budget, we mix differing achievement levels in the classroom.

If you want every student to succeed and to be pushed to the limits academically, you need to do two things: open your wallet and cough up the dough and be prepared to support longer school days/school years.

Paul









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