Monday, June 21, 2021

They Really Do Want To Punish Successful Students

This time it's not California and its math framework, it's Vancouver, BC:

The Vancouver School Board in British Columbia, Canada, is eliminating honors courses as part of a push to foster inclusivity and equity in the classroom.

The board had previously eliminated the high school honors English program, and math and science will now get the ax as well.

"By phasing out these courses, all students will have access to an inclusive model of education, and all students will be able to participate in the curriculum fulsomely," said the school board in a statement, according to the CBC.

This is a spectacularly frank declaration: Education officials don't like that some higher-achieving students are sorted into environments where they are more likely to succeed than their less-gifted peers, and would prefer to keep everyone officially at the same level to the greatest extent possible. The plan closely mirrors California's recent efforts to discourage students who are proficient at math from taking calculus any earlier than their classmates; Canadian educators seem no less excited than their U.S. counterparts about naively pursuing equality of outcome at all costs.

Excellence is the target here.

3 comments:

CyberChalky said...

"Fulsomely"?

Maybe this person should (re-) enrol in English and/or learn to use a dictionary before speaking about education...

PeggyU said...

Still trying hard to find something for my student, Darren. It's positively crazy making!

Ellen K said...

Just two years ago I had to undergo extensive training in order to teach GT students in class. In fact, my district required all teachers to undergo 30 hours of training and started writing IEP's for GT students. Yes, GT students do tend to get the best teachers. That's because in order to stay ahead of students in an AP class, the teacher must be current and informed on their topic. Some of my fellow AP teachers had Masters and Doctors degrees. This is going to drag down excellent students for the sake of giving the appearance of offering the same courses to all. What is more, it's going to cripple those students with special needs who will only get further behind. This smacks of Marxist policies.