Reply to The only way to have equity is to drag down the top performers

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Reply to "The only way to have equity is to drag down the top performers "

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Throwing resources at low performers absolutely will lift them up. And if your kid is really a high performers, they will be a high performer with or without resources. [/quote]
We don't have an infinite amount of resources though.    And why should high performers be ignored? Making the magnets all regional is ignoring the very high performers.

FWIW, I grew up lower income and went to an awful school. [/quote]

+100

The state should really invest the most in the top quartile in order promote excellence and achievement to benefit our society overall.

Any honest teacher will tell you that the differences intellectual capacity are significant and important. Some kids work hard and have good personalities but are never going to be acing organic chemistry or advanced calculus. And that is OK. There are many low-skilled jobs that  are essential to our society and confer value and dignity to those who perform them. [/quote]

+10000000

Also when we talk about equity, why should we limit it to just academics. Why not, extend it to sports. Anyone who wants to play high school football should be able to play not just the best players.[/quote]

In athletics, we have a system where most of the resources go to supporting PE classes that are available to everyone and which offer virtually no differentiation for excellent performers. If you excel, you can possibly participate in a limited school program staffed by people who barely get paid. If we had a system like that for math, people would be going crazy about how it's equity run amok.[/quote]

If equity meant the same for everyone with no room for excellence, varsity sports wouldn’t exist .. we’d all just take PE and pretend that was enough. Nobody would dream of telling talented athletes they don’t deserve teams, coaches, or competition. Yet when it comes to academics, especially math, that’s exactly what some people are proposing. Equity should mean a fair chance for all and real opportunities for those who excel — anything less is just lowering the bar.[/quote]

I’m not sure how you are suggesting that athletics has more options here than math. At our school you can be behind, at grade level, or ahead of grade level by one or more years. You can take honors, AP or regular sections. You can choose from a reasonable set of options. You cannot have every option just because it is what you want, or would be best for you as a single outlier.

Varsity sports are the same. You can be on a team or not, based on skill and interest. If you are on the national team you are still on the same varsity team with kids from your school who aren’t on the national team. If you are amazing at the steeplechase they don’t add it to track and field just for you.

Math pathways are based on skill and motivation, varsity sports are based on skill and motivation. Neither offers unlimited options and customization.[/quote]

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