More concerning than test scores

Editor:

The role of a school is to open doors, to create opportunities, to help each child find a “meaningful place in society;” schools that do this to a high degree are sometimes called schools of opportunity. The impact on students of “choices” made by schools came to my attention a few weeks ago.

A high school student, with hopes, even plans to go to college or university, was having difficulty with math; that’s not unusual; I am told that struggling with math is not uncommon. Assuming the school wants to do the best for the child, what are a school’s options?

1. Let the a student struggle and continue to fall behind

2. Suggest an upgrading after graduation 3. Provide extra instruction 4. Transfer the student a lower level course 5. Recommend private tutoring Options three and five keep doors open and create opportunities, however, the cost of private tutoring is out of reach for many parents and providing extra time on task seems foreign to school thinking. So the school recommended/chose option four.

The student is now in a lower-level math class. In effect, the school created a detour, no a barrier, in his path to education. At best, this option delays entrance to postsecondary studies, reduces the likelihood of that student going to college or university, reduces the chance of a smooth transition to employment and likely means a significant reduction in lifetime income; at worst, it may divert him from being the citizen he is capable of being, the citizen we want him to be.

Education documents tell us education, and presumably schooling, is intended to help students to develop to their fullest capacities. The option chosen for this student fails to fulfill that goal. Personally, I am more concerned by cases of this kind than by low PISA and PCAP scores. Don Glendenning, Charlottetown