Why Streaming in Schools is Imperative

When I was growing up, Streaming, that is testing and placing students into specific classes based on performance, was mandatory.

One was tested before 1st grade and channelled into Bright, Second Bright, Average and Dunce, (these are not the official designations, but you get the idea.)

Each year those at he bottom of Bright Class went into Second Bright, while those at the top of Second Bright went into Bright class.

In 6th grade a special test was given.  Those who had over a 130 I.Q. were streamed into a special school for gifted children.

This was a very good idea, save the fact that there were average and dunce kids who were also accommodated as the school was rather large.

Hence 7-11 to 7-18 were bright, 7-5 to 7-10 were average and 7-1 to 7-4 were dunce.

If the children attended classes at different times, for example if bright class arrived at 8 am and left at 1pm  and average/dunce arrived at 1 pm and their classes ended at 5 pm there would not be much mixing.

Unfortunately, the school day for all the students, was the standard, which meant that during class changes there was mixing and mingling.

The first thing I noticed is that those in Bright Class carried a back breaking number of books. Those in Dunce carried one or two.

Those in Bright Class were assigned reams of homework, those in Dunce could finish in an hour.

Those in Bright Class were supposed to do 7th and 8th grade in one year, and 9th grade would be extra steep.

After skipping one year of Junior High, Bright kids would enter High School early, with the basic subjects covered so they could be pushed into more difficult classes.

They should  get top grades and be welcomed into University, a year early, work their butts off, do Masters Programs, and Ph. Ds, one year earlier.

So they could go to work one year earlier.

As one of the kids in Bright Class, who didn’t have time to go to the bathroom because I had so much homework, I looked with longing at the ‘Dunce’ kids who had endless time to joke, to go to the movies, dances, watch television, and generally fool around.

Realising that all I had to do to get this ‘vacation’ would be to fail a few classes, it seemed quite sensible to do so.

I was kicked out of Bright Class, tossed into Average where I knew everything, could do my homework during the lunch break, get home, ride my bike, watch T.V. and enjoy my childhood.

My parents were very upset about this, but I was happy.

In 9th grade there was an exam.  I scored 98%.   The kids sitting around me scored in the 50s and 60s, after all, they were average to dunce.

I was called into the Principal’s office to get an explanation as how I, dunce, could score so high on the exam but be in… well… dunce class.

“I do as little as possible to get by.”  I replied brightly.

It wasn’t very bright. My parents were called to school, and I got killed when I got home. However, had there been no average/dunce class at the school and all the students lived my life, I’d never have been tempted.

I think of the Bright Kids today now that streaming is taboo.