Andrei,
Yes, I do
But the consensus of most respondents to that report was that mixed ability teaching does nobody any good. Well how is that much different from what Charles Murray was advocating in his book
Real Education and from which I cited passages earlier in this thread ? You seemed to disagree with much of it.
From
The Book Review:
Charles Murray believes our educational system's failures stem from the fundamental lie that every child can be anything he or she wants and that such educational romanticism prevents progress. Four simple truths, he asserts, would prove better:
(1) scholastic ability varies, as all comparative measurements of it attest;
(2) half of all children are and must be below average in scholastic aptitude;
(3) too many are going to college;
(4) America’s future depends on the education of the most gifted.
Murray takes care with his first point, discussing various types of abilities instead of the oft-maligned I.Q. measure; however, he does believe that test scores reflect ability. He argues that there are only a limited number of academically gifted people and these are America's future leaders, that only this elite can enjoy college productively and that the nongifted shouldn't be channeled by their high school counselors into training for that college chimera, which wouldn't make them happy anyway. Further, he argues, if the Educational Testing Service created certification tests covering what employers want applicants to know, these would become the gold standard for applicants, rather than college degrees.
Anticipating that these four points will be seen as justifying social elitism, Murray emphasizes rigor in the demands made of the gifted and opines that the preponderance of the gifted aren’t now in any elite. Furthermore, he advocates reducing the market importance of the BA degree while raising the value of nonscholastic educational attainment, such as the certifications of skilled trades and performance capabilities. An argument only ideologues and special interests should despise.
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