Let teachers teach

Re: Addressing Inequality In Schools, Jamil Jivani, July 8. Jamil Jivani states that young children who are suspended are not a threat, yet teachers have complained to their unions about being bitten, scratched and hit by young children. Classes have had to be evacuated when a student has thrown a tantrum — hurling chairs, etc. — and is an obvious danger to everyone. Jivani takes issue with students being sent home for behavioural issues, but spares not a thought for those students who have lost learning opportunities because of the disruptive behaviour of a particular student.

When it comes to streaming, teachers know that students who find themselves in courses that are beyond their ability quickly become frustrated and frustration leads to disruptive behaviour, which leads to suspensions. Suspending students allows them to learn and teachers to teach.

Jeff Spooner, Kinburn, Ont.

Jamil Jivani knows from experience how streaming illserved him. What he doesn’t know from experience is how failing to stream hurts the majority of students.

I taught elementary English for 35 years, and managing a range of reading levels in a single classroom was my biggest challenge. In a typical Grade 5 classroom in Nova Scotia, I’d have five kids who could barely read, five reading at the Grade 2-3 level, 20 reading at the Grade 5 level and five reading at Grade 6 or up. I divided them into three groups and managed to spend 20 minutes a day with each group while assigning work to the others, but it involved organizational gymnastics that no one who isn’t a teacher can conceive of.

When it comes to teaching Grade 9 English, I truly can’t imagine what a teacher of an unstreamed class can do to accommodate the non-readers at the bottom, while still teaching the rest at grade level. I do know that simply placing kids who can’t read well into a class with kids who are ready for Shakespeare hurts both groups.

Marjorie Gann, Toronto.

What is the point of ending streaming if we are just going to push kids along from grade school to high school without challenging the academic criteria used to allow students to move on to a subsequent grade?

If kids — irrespective of their socioeconomic status, race, religion, etc. — have not mastered the learning concepts and technical knowledge to move on to the next grade, they should not be moved on. We are doing them a disservice by doing that. If they need extra help or there are other issues at foot impacting their success in the classroom, this is where educational supports and community-based programs should come in. We need to set our kids up for success. Sometimes that means allowing them to fail.

Jen Mazzarolo, Ancaster, Ont.

JONATHAN HAYWARD / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Children need to be set up for success, and sometimes that means allowing failure, Jen Mazzarolo writes.