Tracking and Oaks Response

Tracking a student's progress and grouping them into a class at their level can be very detrimental to their education. A lower level student given the resources of a lower level student will have difficulties excelling do to the limitations of the materials and staff provided. Teachers who teach children of this sort are usually disinterested thinking that because they are of a lower level their performance will be as well. The materials presented are usually of a grade behind or more or not provided at all and so these poor stimuli can only decrease the progression of said students. It is a vicious circle that continues through their school lives, likely putting them off from attending college, thinking that the instructors are as enthusiastic as their grade school counterparts. The one's that are sent to the higher level classes however receive special treatment, with the expectation of greatness from them, these students receive high grade books detailing their subjects to a T, barely missing any information at all as the teachers enthusiastically instruct them and give them special treatment in hopes of spawning a genius amongst the group, since the seed of intelligence is clearly shown through these children's grades. In doing this we are separating these children into two categories, Dull and lesser and bright and greater, we label them even before they are sent into the real world where those labels influence the rest of their lives and in doing so reflects the great divide between classes. It is terrible to assume that a student who does not excel at one subject will not be able to learn it effectively, we are branding them because the teachers and staff are too lazy to focus on them, they would rather throw them away and get on to the next batch so they can continue earning their paychecks according to schedule.

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