PIE - Student Separation in the Educational System

Clark 1

Brenda Clark

Professor Monique Williams

English 1A

Section:  014

24 September 2013

                                                           PIE – Student Separation in the Educational System

              Teachers should not have the power to separate students into different categories of potential. We all have different amounts of potential, and our potential continues to change throughout our lifetime. From birth, we all have unlimited potential, although this amount of potential changes based on multiple factors including the environment that we are raised in, the opportunities that we are provided, etc. If teachers have the power to separate students into different categories of potential, the above level students will continue to advance and the below level students will continue to decline. When referring to the Chicago Panel on Public School Policy in Savage Inequalities, Jonathan Kozol states “The panel also notes that poorer children do not tend to bring the top kids down. It is more likely that the high-achieving kids will bring the others up” (Kozol 75). The only time that it is appropriate and beneficial to the student to be separated into a different category is when a student is in a category that is too low for his/her learning ability. When I was in my junior year of high school, I moved to San Francisco and was assigned to a continuation school which taught multiple grade levels including junior high and high school. As I had been attending advanced placement classes at my previous high school, I had a very easy time at the continuation school, although was very bored and felt as though I was not offered the challenge that I desired. Apparently this was obvious to the school principal because shortly after I was transferred to a regular high school next door, which matched my learning ability better. I was very thankful that this change had been made, as I was beginning to feel depressed and hopeless at the lower level. All students should be encouraged to study at their own level and strive to increase their performance in order to move up to a higher level.  Students should not necessarily be separated based on potential, but should be provided with school work and taught lessons that meet their learning abilities. Higher level learners can be moved out of lower level classes if absolutely necessary, although lower level learners should not be grouped together. They should be in regular classes, and possibly even paired with higher level learners in order to provide them with motivation to reach the higher level. Teachers should have the power to inspire students rather than to group students. Students should have the power to reach the potential that they desire, without being limited by a teacher, education, or any other obstacle.