Quote:
Originally Posted by manaboutown
Back when I started elementary school in 1948 the relatively small grade school I attended drew from a diverse neighborhood, not so much racially (although I did learn to cuss in Spanish from a couple classmates) but socioeconomically. In particular I remember our teacher divided our reading out loud sessions into three groups, redbirds, bluebirds and yellowbirds. It was quite apparent which group comprised the best and which the worst readers. By third grade the differences in reading skill levels astonished me. Some could barely read "Run Spot Run" whereas others read at the 8th grade level and possibly beyond. I remember at least once being lined up according to reading skill level and our teacher announcing standardized test results, something that would never happen today - shudder.
It seems to me a track system such as in Germany produces the best all around results.
"Although most Germans claim to be against elitism and favoring any social class, their entire educational system is basically a three-class system that divides students into three different tracks: (1) Gymnasium for bright students headed for college, (2) Realschule for the next step down, kids headed for average or better white-collar positions, and (3) Hauptschule for the bottom tier, generally aimed at the trades and blue-collar jobs. By the age of 10 most pupils in Germany have been put on one of these three educational tracks. But it has become easier to switch tracks, and this is now more common in Germany than it used to be."
https://www.german-way.com/history-a...school-system/ |
Very sad to label someone by their intellectual level especially at such an early age. That is grooming them into a certain way of life. There are amazingly intelligent people who don’t do well in school. And there are not so intelligent people who do well at an early age. As a child therapist I can tell you that there are many reasons why an intelligent person may not do well academically. It’s a sad state of affairs when Academics is the sole guide for defining intelligence level.