Holly Blog #6

Socialization occurs in many different contexts, from many different sources. In our readings this week, it focused on how children are socialized in schools versus their own families. One way that children are socialized in schools is by streaming them. Streaming refers dividing students into groups based on their abilities and taking courses that best suit each individual (pg. 167).

There are usually two streams -higher academic achieving students and students who are less academically inclined. The focus on the latter stream sets students up for things like vocational training (pg. 168). Whereas, the higher academically inclined stream prepares students for post-secondary institutions like university. One argument for streaming states that a better learning environment is created when students of similar abilities are placed together (pg. 168). I find that this contradicts the multi-age classroom philosophy that I see so much of in early years. At first, I didn’t see the point of multi-age classrooms because I didn’t quite understand the reasoning behind it. However, I can know see the validity in this method.

Back to streaming- it appears that it can be quite beneficial for students in the upper group, however, not so much for the students in the bottom groups (pg. 171). One way in which the bottom group suffers is because of lower teacher expectations. This is something that has been brought to my attention over and over again. Honestly, I’m concerned as to how my expectations and positionality will effect my students. I think it’s one thing to see a child that excels academically and see their academic potential, and therefore have high expectations of them. However, what about the child that struggles? Do we have expect them to get to the same level academically? I would assume that most would not.

The other week, I talked about how it’s sometimes easier to focus on the weaker students and leave the gifted or more academically advanced students unchallenged because they have already caught on to a particular idea for example. However, here there is a shift from the higher achieving students being disadvantaged, to the lower achieving students being disadvantaged because of differing expectations. All in all, I think teaching can be a crazy juggling act- while standing on a balance beam, that’s on top of a ever-moving ball! However, to see the progress and impact that we can have in a child’s life, it makes it all worth it.

Discussion question: Do you think that streaming students have more positive or negative effects?