Not All Kids are Created Equal

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that, by schooling low-ability pupils and high-ability pupils together, the low-ability pupils may wrongly come to understand their position in the hierarchy as a reflection of individual worth and most often do even worse academically than before. The author points out that many European schools do not employ tracking and yet their students as a rule perform better than American students. The paper stresses that, if a child runs into problems, only a careful analysis of his own personal case can ever hope to resolve the difficulties rather than imposing a core curriculum that is the same for every child.

From the Paper:

"Nor will dividing an individual class into ability groups necessarily alter relative performance. This method, while having the advantage of keeping the students together at least on a social level, still divides them when it comes to learning. If the teaching method used with each group is identical, the division into groups will only benefit that group for whom the teaching method is most suited. A "head start" reading program in pre-school for example, will benefit high-ability students but will likely do nothing for low-ability students who need more attention or cannot keep up with the pace. At the same time, students who flunk out of such a program will then be behind their peers. In other words instead of being on the "fast track," they will be on the road to underachievement. Once a bad apple, always a bad apple."

More papers on Not All Kids are Created Equal:

• Article Review # 135967 : "Earth to Parent: Not All Kids Are Equal"
• Argumentative Essay # 3106 : "All Animals are Created Equal"
• Research Paper # 91408 : "Not All Food Is Created Equal"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: