Is it fair to students to have different abilities in one classroom?
In some schools, students are divided into classes with different levels of ability. In other school systems, students are taught together, regardless of ability. In this essay, I will discuss if students benefit from being educated together.
In many countries, students are educated together regardless of ability for a variety of reasons. Political correctness is one: some policymakers believe that ‘equality’ and ‘fairness’ are more important than meeting the needs of individual students. Another reason is ease of administration. Schools just randomly assign teachers and students to classes. The results, however, are that bright students are bored because they are not challenged. Weaker students stay weak and demotivated, and the country is deprived of the opportunity to create an elite group of students in arts, engineering or other disciplines who will go on to excel in university.
There are some arguments for educating students of different ability together. One claim is that students will learn to cooperate with other students of different abilities. It’s also suggested that few students are good at everything: they can learn from being in classes with students with different skills. These situations are similar to work and real life. However, the main reason against having separate classes is often political: some people fear that it leads to the development of an elite or favored group, with weaker students or schools being left with inferior teachers and fewer resources.
In conclusion, instead of being an educational debate about how to serve students well, it is often a political one. We need to find out which system works best for our students and give them the best chance to succeed.