How we teach

In our public schools, we lump all students together so the only thing a teacher  can do is babysit.  Smart kids are ignored because they are expected to learn on their own.  The mediocre kids get all the teaching because they need that one-on-one.  So the smart kids get bored.  We had a tracking system in Texas when my oldest son was in elementary.  His early education was excellent because he was in classes with others of his intelligence level.  The classes were not small either.  They were 30-40 kids per classroom, but the teacher could teach on the same level to all students.  By the time my two younger children started school, the track system had been ruled unconstitutional.  My two younger were grouped with kids with all ranges of IQ levels.  So , my daughter doodled through elementary.  My youngest son sat in class and daydreamed.  They never made up for those lost study habits.  With all the input at home, we could not counter the boredom they faced everyday in school.  This was not fair to either the children with the higher intelligence nor to the ones with average and lower intelligence.  The teacher taught to the average intelligent children.  The more intelligent were bored and the slower children were frustrated because they could not keep up.  It was a lose-lose situation and still is.  And it has gotten worse.  We can fix our education system, but the first thing we have to do is remove politics.  We have to allow the teachers to teach.  Had my children been some of those slower children, I would have been as furious about them being stuck in a class with high intelligent children as I was that my children being stuck in a classroom with a mix.  Reason:  Children should be taught on the level they can learn best.  I would not have wanted my children frustrated and feeling less than a person because they were not as smart as their classmates.  Yes, this could work and did.  Not fair you say.  Well let me tell you a story.  In my oldest son's class, there was a Down's syndrome child.  He was encouraged all through school by all the other kids.  On the night of the banquet when awards and scholarships were awarded, the seniors were bored and talking, half-hearted clapping when someone's name was called.  That is until this child with Down's Syndrome had his name called and was given a scholarship for completing high school.  Those seniors almost brought down the ceiling with the shouts and cheers.  It took 10 minutes before the superintendent could say another word.  They took him out with them after the banquet.  That child felt wonderful and was full of self-esteem.