Talking Point #6

Tracking: Why schools need to take another Route

By: Jeannie Oakes

About:

• tracking
• stereotype
• low-class students
• high-class students
• differences
• classes
• uneven opportunities
• alternatives to tracking
• students left behind
• curriculum
• discipline
• behavior


• evaluation

Argument:

Jeannie Oakes argues that schools should find an alternative method of teaching instead of the tracking method that most school follow. She believes that tracking is not the best way to teach because it creates a separation between students. They should find an alternative method that brings all the students together.

Evidences:

"...tracking can and often does work well for top students. Start by providing the best teachers, a concentration of the most successful students and sometimes even the lowest class size...parent support group..." (Page 179)

This quote simply states top students do well in tracking rather then low students. It is an example of how not every students do well. Also it states the reason why these students do well in tracking and the example that is given I can conclude that they are barely or not found in a school where there is diversity.

"...school professionals and parents oppose tracking because they believe it locks most students into classes where they are stereotyped as less able, and where they have fewer opportunities." (page. 178).

Yet another reason why tracking should be taken out of school system. Even parents and teachers know that tracking creates a separation between students and it creates a lot of stereotypes in school. Another reason why an alternative method needs to be use so that every child have an opportunity in learning.

"Low ability classes were likely to have little contact with the knowledge skills that would allow them to make it into high classes or to successful..." (Page 178)

Another fact that by tracking or dividing students into different groups limits a student's knowledge. This is important because if a student is being limited to an education then they are not going to be successful in the future.

Comment:

I strongly agree with the author because I went through tracking in middle and high school. In middle school we were all divided into different group. For instance I was in the DREAM team. We were the team known for having ESL classroom and mainstream. After reading this article and thinking back I think that we were labeled as Dreamers. There was also the ALPHA team and they were placed alone in the third floor. Alpha is referred as the first so that makes it seem like that team was the #1 team in the school and since that was the case they needed to have their own floor. In high school we also had tracking and I was placed into Honors classes. Many students in that school thought that those classes were ONLY FOR SMART STUDENTS and many of them thought that they were unable to attend those classes. With this life experiences I can say that we need to find ways to include everyone not just a group of students. I also believe that having a classroom with of mixture of all different types of students makes the classroom stronger because it makes a learning environment. EVERY students has the opportunity in learning as much as the "higher" students. The moral of this article is that EVERY STUDENT SHOULD HAVE AN EQUAL LEARING OPPORTUNITY.