The most significant thing to me about tracking and not tracking in schools is not that students in the upper tracks do better, because they don't, but that students in lower tracks do worse. The evidence is that students that are classified in the higher tracks have no significant benefit. They do not necessarily do better academically or have higher self confidence. When a child is placed in a lower class though, there is a shame that is not present in a trackless school. There is a feeling of being trapped into a vocational course of study. From this piece, I feel that not tracking students is the way to go. Lower achieving students in trackless schools are more challenged and are more likely to go into college preparation courses. In my own experience in school, the upper tracks have been made up of almost exclusively white people although white people were actually only half of the school system’s population. The lower tracks were where some whites and almost all black people were. This only added to the superior feelings that the majority tends to have and the inferior feelings that the minority tends to have.

I think that tracking and school social class are both bad. They make the student think they are no good at whatever they are doing. I thought it was sad when Ollie said he was the smartest boy in the dumbest track. If i were being classified as the lower track kid, and i would probably think of myself the sameway these kids thought of themselves as no good and do the least bit of work because thats what the teacher expects and thats sad. Each child deserves the best education they can possibly get.

In Adam Gamoran's article, "Is Ability Grouping Equitable?" he presents the idea that while low track students are worse off academically, high track students are actually better off academically. This article seemed to cater more to the higher track students than the Ollie Taylor article did. It put more blame on the way that the students in tracks were being treated than the tracks themselves. Tracks are "polarized" a lot of the time, and the school is divided into "pro-school" and "anti-school" groups. To fix this, instead of getting rid of tracks altogether, better methods just need to be used. If schools do not do away with tracks, Gamoran says that the pace should not be slowed down but that schools should challenge the best students. The students who do not keep up with the work should have opportunities to go to school on the weekends and in the summer. I feel that this is not a good idea at all. If students were intentionally left behind then the school might as well be tracked because a divide between the smart students and the average students will be just as apparent.

I agree with tracking being bad. You don't want children to start believing that they are incapable or dumber than the other students. If they start out with that belief when they are young, there is no room for improvement. By the time they get to high school, they will either drop out or not care at all about school. Every child is capable of proving themselves, why not let them do so?

Crystal A. Land

It seems to me as though students differentiate among themselves who is "smart" and who is not. It almost seems as though tracking is just the school recognizing the distinctions that students make for themselves and making those distinctions official. If tracking is don away with, the distinctions will not also disappear, however, students will feel less trapped in one scenario. They will have more freedom to explore education,which I believe increases their likelihood to succeed. I don't think that it is up to us to determine what our students educational and life goals are. One student may be expected to get a job right out of school, and not go to college on purpose. As much as I hate to admit it, my friend made me go with her to see "Mona Lisa Smile", and in that movie, the girl doesn't go to college she makes her decision, and is happy with it. We live in a society that has set college as the standard of achievement. Tracking is not bad for getting people on the course that they choose, it is bad for forcing those individuals into a decision before they are ready for it.

I think that tracking is horrible. Students learn so much from each other, which is the benefit of STRUCTURED group work and students teaching students. why not carefully form groups where students can work off of each others strenghths and weaknesses. I think that this is the idea behind literature circles. (I hope every body knows what these are.) All students learn from each other reguardless of their ability. Each student has to participate in the group in some way, and then they use each other as sounding boards for thoughts and ideas. There is oppurtunity for creativity, in depth discussion, and creative thoughts. Studnets get perspectives from other students with varying ability levels and they learn from each other. However if you are as sick of lit circles as I am, the idea behind the lit circles should be used in teaching strategies. I feel that it is important for students to learn from each other and I think that it is expecially important to put students with varied ability levels together, and I think that it is the teachers job to make activites structured with each individual students needs in mind as they form the groups. I think that groups should NOT be divided into the dumb group, the smart group,and the average group. (I really hate those lables that are put on groups. Started in first grade with seperated reading groups! I moved up from the baby Robins to the Soaring Eagles- woo hoo for me!) Students know what there lables are from the moment they enter school. Has anybody ever heard of the selffufilling prophecy, you are who others think you are? Why would we put lables on students? This creates excuses for the student. "I made a C which is good because I am an average student!" Students do not see learning as a process (something that develops over time and at different paces for different students) , they see learning as as an ability level or a gift. I feel that this line of thinking comes from the tracking way of thought.