Slowing Down Students for the Right Reasons

Last week I was given a rare opportunity to talk with J, a student who has been a blessing to me all year.  Here's a few things you should know about J first through.  J is in the lowest-level math class that the school offers.  Contrary to the other students in the class, J seems to flourish in every topic I've covered this year.  Up until a little while ago, I saw a student who wasn't being challenged, which in turn made me feel as though I wasn't giving them the education they deserved.  So in the feeling of regret, I started to plan a way for J to take the Algebra regents in January as opposed to waiting another full year.

But during that conversation last week, J said things like "glad to take this course," and, "a lot more confident in math now."  Now that's music to a math teachers ears!  As I may have mentioned here before, mathematics is topic where you need a mastery on previous material before moving onward.  Clearly J was put in the right course at the right time and getting an opportunity to gain full confidence and mastery in the basics of math is invaluable.  Few students in public school can honestly say that they have more confidence at the end of the year than when class began.

So this makes me start thinking of the idea of No Child Left Behind.  Since NCLB, the trend in education has been to push the student up to the next grade, regardless of the means.  Of course, that wasn't its theoretical design, but that's how it is practiced.  To have J retained for one year in mathematics is going to have a payoff in the years to come.  It's dangerous to write legislation that applies to all people, and even more so when it applies to children and education.  When we fail to see children as individuals in both ability and character, there is going to be times where we be doing them a disservice.  At this point, it's a hope and prayer that we can understand that it is alright for some students to learn at a slower place as long as it is for the right reasons.  Just as much as the bright students deserved to be challenged at a level that fits their pace, students who haven't been given the same privileges and advantages should be offered the same.  And those decisions can be made in confidence when staff and parents are able to work together.  If the nation is going to depend on the public school system for their main facet of education, then we better prepare ourselves to tackle these (and much bigger) challenges with open minds and creative solutions that doesn't treat the students as yearly batches educational products.