There are 2 major similarities between Finland and China’s education systems, both of which sets them apart from the United States. First, they treat teachers much differently, and with much more respect. Second, they do not segregate students based on ability like we so often do in the United States. All students remain in the same class. For my next two blog posts, I want to look at both of these differences that seem to be giving Finland and China a pretty big edge over the United States. Today, I’m going to look at the practice of separating students based on ability.

I’m sure we’ve all experienced segregation in the classroom, starting very early on in our schooling. I distinctly remember being in separate groups for reading and math, starting in first grade. That separation really never went away – it continued in reading and math classes in early middle school, and translated into what classes you took in high school. By the time we graduated, most of the kids that were separated from each other in first grade were miles apart in terms of academic achievement. Is this a direct result of separating them, or would they have developed at different rates anyway?

Of course, there are some advantage and disadvantages to splitting up students based on, for lack of a better term, intelligence. One advantage is that teachers can move at the pace most appropriate for specific groups of students. When all students are kept together, the more advanced students usually have to slow down and wait for the others to pick up on material, while the less advanced students are sometimes left behind and forced to move through material too fast. When students are separated, however, the teacher can move at a faster pace for the advanced students and a slower pace for the others, without impacting the education of the other students. Also, keeping students grouped with those who are around the same level as them can improve their confidence. When less advanced students are constantly in a group with more advanced students, who understand material faster and more completely than they do, they usually end up intimidated. As a result, they rarely participate and usually get discouraged. However, when students are grouped with others of the same ability, they are more confident and determined, because they are not constantly overshadowed by more advanced students.

The first and most obvious disadvantage of segregating students by their abilities is the distinct feeling of segregation. The students are well aware that there are high, average, and low groups, and this often creates a kind of hierarchy among students. I know when I was in school, everybody talked about what group or class they were in, and knew what groups their friends were in. Everyone strived to be in the highest group, and if you struggled in a certain subject, everyone knew about it. Teachers may also discriminate between the groups, even if they do not intend to do so. It is natural for teachers to have different expectations about the different groups, and as a result, they may treat higher groups differently than lower groups, and the two groups will end up with 2 hugely different educations. Finally, there could be problems with the methods of determining which students should be in which group. Currently, standardized testing seems to be the preferred method, but as other blogs have discussed at length, standardized testing isn’t necessarily the best way to measure students’ abilities. Unfortunately, there is no other method in place to figure out how to divide students into groups currently.

Finland and China definitely see more disadvantages than advantages to segregating students, which is why they choose to keep students all together. Finnish teachers do everything in their power to ensure that all their students are on the same page, while Chinese educators believe that it is up to the students to take charge of their success. While their motivation for not segregating students may differ, I think that the result is ultimately the same, and students are better off for staying in one group. Although, it certainly is possible that there are many other factors of their education system making the difference in their education. What do you all think?

http://www.teach-nology.com/currenttrends/equity_excellence/tracking/