This is a respond to Chapter 5 of The Routledge Education Studies' Education and Social Class.
The sub-section on Social Class and Underachievement seems to be valid since schools at that time put children on 'tracks' or otherwise known as streaming and banding.
Personally I think that schools that practice streaming students according to their grades will only widen the gap between social classes. Is it not already unfair that there's an existing gap between the upper and lower class but the schools, public schools for that matter have to further reinforce this by streaming smarter kids to classes with better teachers?
Really, is it not the association between students and their peers who can encourage each other to strive hard and 'provoke' positive peer pressure? Likewise if students with lower grades are put together with other students who encounter the same situation? Chances are, they are either going to sink or sink faster.
Allocation students despite of their intelligence will allow more opportunities for them to mingle and socialise and learn values from each other. After all, isn't that what the hidden curriculum is about?
A fear of bad students influencing your good kid? Teachers then have to play a role to educate students to learn how to differentiate between what's right and wrong. Parents have to play their part too. Neither party can act alone - both must complement each other on order for the children to learn what is beyond the formal education prepared for them.
Besides that, I think that the once fear of female students overachieving male students is ridiculous. The reaction towards this phenomena was no better - that female students' scores were downgraded in order for more male students to be enrolled to grammar schools. A similar situation is happening in the present now isn't it? - That more female students are being accepted and enrolled to higher education institution than males.
Hmm,history seems to have its way of repeating itself.
-potatoes-
Hi Potatoes,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your ideas that streaming or putting students in different sets will have different effects. You rightly pointed out that students will miss the positive peer pressure.
However, there are also proponents of streaming students consider that grouping students according to their learning abilities helps teachers to teach and students to learn because they all are of the same level.
What do you think?
WKToo
Hi WKToo,
ReplyDeletePersonally, I think grouping students according to their learning abilities is rather a subjective approach to streaming. How can the school know the way students learn? If it is through the level of competence that the students are being streamed, on what basis was the competence level measured by? If by examinations, then it is again, too subjective to make the decision by. I believe if the teachers can take on a role to be both equitable to all students of different levels in the same class, only then equality can be achieved for students to learn because only then they are of the same level.
-potatoes-
Your view is from the perspective of equality.
ReplyDeleteI guess we need to look at studies to see if streaming really works, such as Ireson, Hallam, Hack, Clark, and Plewis' (2002) "Ability Grouping in English Secondary Schools: Effects on Attainment in English, Mathematics and Science". It was reported it worked for mathematics but not the other subjects. A mix result.
Unfortunately, we haven't seen any study on local schools.
WKToo