Reply to Why the aversion to grouping kids based on ability rather than age? Thoughts from down under.

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Schools can not fix societies problems but they are suppose to be the equalizers.  It is the number one method in which people are supppose to be able to move to a higher station in life, from poor to middle class and so on.  School and hard work are the great equalizer allowing any American or Immigrant to prosper.

I agree on the smaller classrooms for bottom tier students but I think they need to adopt a teach them and move them out approach.  Get them up to speed into the normal classroom, do not just teach at a slower pace so that they end up years behind never being able to recover.  Also, in the early years, kids learn at different paces and we do not want a kid to fall behind early on especially when they have the capacity to learn each and every thing.[/quote]

I am ok with some of what you say.  For example, you could cut out specials and give the 'slower' classrooms extra math/reading time (double block of math and reading).  You could also have afterschool, weekend, and summer activities for them (if they decide to particpate).   That is what those 'Stand and Deliver' kids did to earn AP credit in a chaotic high school.

I think schools can't get to equalization by themselves without support from students and parents.  I also think holding back fast learners is not a good option for keeping things equal.  If a kid A goes home and reads 2 hours a day, but kid B watches videos instead and this happens day after day, year after year, then how is the school going to make up the extra 2 hours a day?  It is not fair for Kid A to have to go to school and re-learn something that was mastered in the past.  Nor is it fair for Kid A to teach Kid B.    That is what mixed ability grouping does, IMHO.   BTW, I am not even getting into whether some kids have a better innate learning ability beyond effort.  I personally see innate learning idifferences within my own children, but I know people don't like to talk about it.[/quote]

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