22 October 2012
Separating Students Based on Academic Skill Level Separating students based on academic skill level is a topic discussed by many people. I believe that junior high and high school students with special needs, as well as all other students, should be separated based on academic skill level because every person is different. All humans are unique which is what defines each person as their own being. Not separating students, in my opinion, can have negative results.
First, advanced students get held back because teachers must go slower for the students that take more time to learn certain lessons. They begin to get bored and tend to dose off because the material the teacher is going over is too easy for them. For example, when I was in my math class in 7th grade, I would always understand the lessons quickly. Math came easy to me so whenever the teacher was in the middle of a lesson, I would talk to my friends and distract them or I would draw goofy pictures. I wouldn’t take class seriously and sometimes I felt like I should just not come to class. A second reason students should be separated based on academic skill level is because students that need help can get it. Some students that aren’t as academically gifted as others might get disappointed because they are not doing so well in a certain class. They might get stressed too much which can lead to depression and anxiety. If they are separated it would be easier for them to get individual help. Also they will be with students at their same skill level so the class will run more smoothly, they can help each other out, and they will feel more comfortable in class.
These issues can be fixed by having all students take an assessment test to evaluate what level each person is in each class. If this would have happened when I was in my 7th grade math class it would have helped me a lot because I would have been ahead in my math classes. Being ahead in my math classes would