Joanne Jacobs notes a story about a local school, in which the principal and two assistants have resigned because they disagree with the district's plan to offer honors English and history classes to 9th and 10th graders.
From my sons' experience in K-12 in San Jose, I have to conclude that we're missing the boat. This probably comes across as insensitive to the problems of kids who come from poorer schools and those who start out with language deficiencies and any other problem that decreases academic success, but here goes anyway.
When you mix high- and low-achieving students in the same class, the top comes down to the middle. If nothing else, it's a simple matter of teacher's time. The low-achieving kids and those who don't want to be there wind up taking a disproportionate amount of the class's energy, leaving little for the top end.
I watched this happen time after time in the GATE (gifted and talented) program in the elementary and middle-school levels, as the system was watered down in an effort to incorporate GATE into the everyday curriculum.
The light returned only in high school, where there were some AP classes available. In our concern for not leaving anybody behind, we're not paying enough attention to those at the top of the intellectual curve.
6:01:40 PM 
|
