In Praise of the Average Student

Examiner column for October 16.

    Should we “track” students according to ability or performance? In Fairfax County, there has been a lively debate over this question for at least fifteen years. Jay Mathews, my favorite education reporter, has recorded varying parent and teacher opinions in his “Washington Post” articles. No one has a simple answer.

    But Mathews and I concur with the school policy that fewer labels lead to more student opportunities. English used to have four tracks. Now there are only two: regular and honors. Dan Domenech, former Fairfax County Superintendent, endorsed the policy when he recommended “a Gifted/Talented education for every child.”  Students often blossom during the year and, although not meeting the classic “accelerated” criteria, have proven again and again that labeling classes stifles students’ growth.

    Eighteen years ago I attended a workshop designed for teachers of gifted students. We learned several creative activities designed to keep active minds engaged during the school day. I asked the presenter,  “Why wouldn’t these methods work with all students?”  She answered that the gifted child’s brain is different.  I didn’t buy it.

    Since then I have utilized these methods and others designed for enrichment in both regular and Advanced Placement classrooms---with equal success. Domenech was right; we need to offer the same exciting opportunities to all. There might be differences in how we pace instruction, but all the “fun” activities should not be reserved for the honors classes.

    Currently, I teach twenty-eight Regular 12 English students who confirm the wisdom of this philosophy. They are just as intelligent as my AP students, but have competing demands on their time. They have after school jobs, or AP courses in other subjects, or are responsible for siblings in the evenings. Some are musicians; some are dedicated athletes. English is not their top priority.

    Their college essays testify to their unusual backgrounds. Luis attributes his determination to the backyard of his childhood: “a gravel lot right dab in the middle of a drug ring.” Xi writes eloquently of his Chinese American parents and their hopes for him; their images stay with him as he goes door to door selling aluminum siding---wanting to quit, but knowing the next door might mean a sale and justify all the rejections of the day.

    Essay after essay reflects their wisdom and life experiences.  We move from a car repair shop to another’s struggle with a learning disability. For all these students, perseverance and quick thinking helps them triumph over obstacles.

    Tom’s essay on his job as waiter exemplifies their grasp of the real world:
“…every shift I meet new people. I’ve met everyone from ballet students, to emerging rap artists. Most interesting to me are the foreign clients and workers I meet. Every day might as well be a Spanish lesson as I work with my coworkers to break the language barrier down.”

    Just like Tom, every day I learn something from my “regular” students. We won’t read James Joyce or Kafka, as we do in my AP classes, but we will read “Grendel” and “Shoeless Joe” and a host of other good novels. Most importantly, we will write and read aloud together, creating a community where gifts and talents can grow, even without the honors label.

Comments

[Bob F.]

Is part of the problem that schools unwittingly (or wittingly) serve "sorting" and "labeling" functions for society. This one is smart, this one is slow, this one is industrious, this one is lazy. This one "deserves" to be fast tracked to a land of advantages and this one "deserves" to be static. It would be wonderful if schools could shed these functions and more fully help students to discover their own gifts and how they can use them to serve their own chosen purposes. How to do that is probably what you think about all the time, but do schools in sum think that their purpose?

[Erica]

Schools think they are aiding in the discovery, but behind closed doors most administrators and teachers label students all the time, and don't see anything wrong with it. When a student confounds predictions, they are always surprised. I try not to listen to others' opinions of my students because I've found students are different year to year, and class to class. There's nothing predictable about them and labels are useless.