Can’t expel disruptive kids. Schools pass students regardless if they learn the material, and now a significant portion of high school students in America can barely read. Teachers are mostly doing daycare instead of teaching. Phones everywhere which distracts kids.
And most importantly: advanced kids are no longer removed from gen pop and put into their own smart kid bubble. Identifying gifted kids and giving them more difficult material is the single most important thing we need to do as a society for K12 education.
I agree with your point about tracking but I also see why it is a third rail. Some parents of average students will raise hell and accuse you of discrimination if you give anyone special treatment. Of course, the irony is I remember that when I was in fifth grade and given advanced math material with three other students that we actually got less teacher attention than the rest of the class. But it was far, far better for us than being stuck in the slow track.
As Jaime Escalante demonstrated, the real difference is between students who are motivated and students who are not. Teachers are incentivized to spend most of their time on the second group, leaving the first group to fend for themselves.
I have a new family member that's a teacher and she says she basically talks to a brick wall while every kid in class messes around on their phones. She's not allowed to do anything about it.
Trying to get my children into an advanced program has been taking years of effort, even at a very good public school. They are bored out of their minds because they already know everything being taught. We are sabotaging our brightest minds from an early age.
Here’s the second highest post of all time https://www.reddit.com/r/Teachers/s/FQCaxMsQrC
The major issues as I have observed are:
Can’t expel disruptive kids. Schools pass students regardless if they learn the material, and now a significant portion of high school students in America can barely read. Teachers are mostly doing daycare instead of teaching. Phones everywhere which distracts kids.
And most importantly: advanced kids are no longer removed from gen pop and put into their own smart kid bubble. Identifying gifted kids and giving them more difficult material is the single most important thing we need to do as a society for K12 education.