Not Really Equal

It may have been chance, but I came across an the perfect article for beginning this discussion on ability based classrooms, and whether or not tracking is positive or negative in the school setting.  When thinking about tracking, I tend to focus on the benefits or pitfalls created for the gifted students and lower ability students.  My worries about inequality in this area are generally based on intelligence levels.  The article titled, “Equality in Education is Nice, But Do We Really Want It?”, by Francisco D. Carranza and Vichet Chhuonbrings brings up the age old issue of racial segregation and the ever-present issue of desegregating American classrooms.   The article makes tracking another culprit of segregation in the educational system.

The authors begin their argument by stating: 

“Academic tracking, a system of ability-based courses, creates segregated classes where minority students — often African-American, Mexican American, and those not proficient in speaking English — are placed in lower academic tracks while their white and Asian counterparts are placed in college preparatory and advanced placement courses.”

Another study done by Jeannie Oakes, a professor at UCLA, showed that when the test scores of African American and Mexican American students were the same as the white students they were still a considerable amount less likely to be placed in an advanced level classroom.  Meanwhile, studies also showed that even in poor, urban settings there were still gifted programs created with a high percentage of the white students in them, which consequently segregated them from the minority students.  In the article Annegret Staiger a researcher from Clarkston University found that,

“Although the ostensible societal objective of integration is to increase educational opportunities for minority students, white students were often the ones who benefited the most because they filled most of the slots in these enrichment courses.”

These different viewpoints bring up some valid questions and arguments, but in some ways I believe that the arguments are based strictly on racial issues and not necessarily what is academically what is best for the students.  One of the most relevant pieces of information in the article comes from a study done by a principal in a diverse Los Angeles high school.  The principal decided to de-track his classrooms turning low ability classrooms into college preparatory classes.  This study yeilded positive results showing an increased number of non-white students were enrolling in extra-curricular activities, such as student government organizations.  This seemed to be a great idea, until the parents of the white students produced a negative reaction about what the classes were doing for their sons and daughters.  They believed that it was holding their children back, and no longing preparing them for college because the challenge was no longing there. 

There are two sides to every coin, and I believe that there is no easy answer for this topic.  I would hope that school administrators and teachers want what is best for each individual student.   With this idea about how tracking helps further segregate our already somewhat segregated schools, one might believe that it is a bad idea to track students.  But is that really fair to students who are bored and not stimulated in their de-segregated classrooms? What happens when the push for equality starts to hold back certain students?  One of the last statements made by the authors seems to pinpoint what they feel the heart of the problem is, in a sarcastic, snide way.  They state:

“After all, if you are on top, why acknowledge that it is the structural organization of schools that really determines who does well? Besides, these are other people’s children.”

The entire structure of the schools is what lies underneath.  This issue of the structure of classes relating to race and tracking presents an interesting problem for educators.  It is obvious that there is no easy solution to this problem.  Should teachers be blind to the issue of race when looking at which students to place in certain classes?  It seems like a simple answer to just remove the names and race of students, and look only at one’s academic progress when deciding which classes are suitable for which students. But, then educators may run the risk of segregated classrooms.  Classrooms could lose the aspect of diversity that is viewed as incredibly important in an increasingly diverse America.  It may not be a direct correlation, but this issue seems to be related to the choice Michigan residents made on last November’s ballot.  Proposal 2, which passed appears to aim at taking race among other things out of the mix when deciding whom to accept in schools or hire for certain positions (it is much deeper than this, but just for comparison purposes).  Personally, I am torn.  I do not think that it is fair to hold back students that deserve to, and should be challenged at the next level.  They need to be doing work that is stimulating to them or they will lose their desire and passion for education.  They need to work with other students that can challenge them to think deeper and move beyond what they think they already know.  This is very important in the today because the world beyond high school is more and more competetive and students must push themselves.  It is true that the cost of this could be possible segregation of certain students, and there are many other factors to be weighed in on in this debate.  Even after reading this article there is one question I am left pondering.  Are actions that are equal necessarily fair?

“Equality in Education is Nice, But Do We Really Want It?  (this article is no longer in the Livingston Daily Archive)

By The Gevirtz Schooll

January 1, 2007

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