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The Animal School
Once upon a time, the animals decided they must do something heroic to meet the problems of "a new world". So they organized a school.
They adopted an activity curriculum consisting of running, climbing, swimming, and flying. To make it easier to Administer the curriculum, all the animals took all the subjects.
It is now 2009 and educators, and those who make the laws and rules guiding educators, are making and mandating more and more of the mistakes this book was written to argue against.
I personally feel very strongly for the poor Duck ... excellent in swimming, but so poor in running that he had to stay after school and practice running to the point that it destroyed his webbed feet and he was no longer the star of swimming. Or the Rabbit .... who could run but had a nervous breakdown due to all the swimming tutorials.
Today's education standards attempt to make everyone equal ... but equal on a very low level. Why aren't we letting those gifted in Math and Science rocket ahead of everyone else? Some school districts do! They have magnet schools for students with particular gifts. But most school districts, while not actively tyring to keep the best and the brightest down, simply water down the classes they are taking. Enrollment in AP (Advanced Placement) classes is a notch in the belt of a school's ratings, so students are encouraged to take these classes even if they are not qualified to be there. Then teacher's are encouraged to have high passing rates .... and things go downhill from there .... OR .... sometimes the worst teachers are assigned to the AP classes because administrators know that AP students can and will teach themselves if need be .... but their leader is incompetent.
I am leaning more and more towards identifying student strengths early on and "tracking" students ..... placing them in courses which build on their strengths. Sure .... teach them everything else, make sure they have a well rounded education .... but the Duck should have been encouraged to swim and swim well and swim better. Run? Check .... Fly? Check .... Climb? ... well you did get to the top! Good Job! You didn't do it the way I would have, but Good Job! Keep it up!
We need to be identifying the strengths in our students and emphasizing those strengths .... letting our best and our brightest shine early on and then continue to grow. Beating a student with his weaknesses while his talent suffers is no way to educate ... and yet, that is exactly what we are doing.
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