This issue is an artifact of a factory assembly line system that educates pupils on each subject in lock step. Their solution to different needs and paces is to split into a slow, normal and fast track. We can do a lot better.
With modern wealth and info tech we can abandon that for most academic subjects, and let each child learn at their own pace, on their own laptop, touchpad, etc. Not an assembly line but a collection of artisans. It doesn't matter if a genius is sitting next to a plodder if the whole class isn't expected to be on the same page.
Part of the problem is that the teacher is expected to be knowledgeable on the subject, which is fine. But now we can geographically separate the subject expert from the classroom manager. Teacher can't teach a fourth grader calculus? No problem, here are a list of online teachers who can give personal help, along with canned videos, etc.
We'll get closer to equal protection under the law by treating every child as unequal in the classroom. If you teach to the mean you poorly serve the long tails on either end.
The single greatest skill you can learn in class is autodidactics. Learning that should be at the center of the school experience. Self-paced learning of a predefined curriculum is a large step toward that. And a return toward the standard practice of pre-industrial one-room schools.
With modern wealth and info tech we can abandon that for most academic subjects, and let each child learn at their own pace, on their own laptop, touchpad, etc. Not an assembly line but a collection of artisans. It doesn't matter if a genius is sitting next to a plodder if the whole class isn't expected to be on the same page.
Part of the problem is that the teacher is expected to be knowledgeable on the subject, which is fine. But now we can geographically separate the subject expert from the classroom manager. Teacher can't teach a fourth grader calculus? No problem, here are a list of online teachers who can give personal help, along with canned videos, etc.
We'll get closer to equal protection under the law by treating every child as unequal in the classroom. If you teach to the mean you poorly serve the long tails on either end.
The single greatest skill you can learn in class is autodidactics. Learning that should be at the center of the school experience. Self-paced learning of a predefined curriculum is a large step toward that. And a return toward the standard practice of pre-industrial one-room schools.