Tracks in School

When I was a student during my childhood, I derived a great sense of self-esteem from being at the top of my class. And conversely, a great sense of failure and humiliation from those times I was at the bottom of my class. When the general student body was split up into classes without regard to the students' perceived aptitudes, I usually found myself doing pretty well. But often, the curriculum was split into tracks. For example, in high school math, we had three tracks: track three for the math-challenged, track two for the vast body of “average” students, and track one for the math whizzes. I was a math whiz (I took the SAT twice, scoring 780 in math the first time and 800 the second). So naturally, the good folks at my high school kept putting me in track one math. The only problem was, that put me in a situation where it was very difficult to claw myself to the top of the class. If I had stayed in track two throughout my high school career, I could have still learned everything at my own pace, gotten excellent grades, and been at the summit of my classes. But with track one, I felt like an idiot and floundered there. It sure would have been swell if one of those “professional” teachers and counselors in my school had even once considered advising me that perhaps I would be better off staying with track two math. But of course, no one did.

I believe that many kids nowadays feel great pressure from parents, teachers, and counselors to try to claw and scratch their way into as many “track one” and advanced placement courses to enhance their academic records for college admissions and scholarships. But many kids (myself included) have a psychological need to feel a sense of success in relation to the group they find themselves in. A student struggling to stay afloat in an advanced placement class may feel stupid and discouraged, especially if he/she had been used to being at the top of other classes. Now someone may argue that this is just preparation for the competitiveness of adult life: inevitably, the best will “float” to the top and eventually find their optimum “place” in their careers. But I believe that it’s more important to keep a kid’s spirit and enthusiasm going strong than it is to throw down hard experiences on him/her that may be more damaging than educational. But that’s just my opinion, based on my own experiences.