I think they are due to a combination of biologically based differences in ability with social environments that foster higher or lower levels of educational attainment. I do think that the gap would be mitigated by increased independence of students and student work, but I also think that students do need some explicit instruction from teachers to learn well. The more different curricula coexist within one classroom, the less time the teacher can devote to teaching each one.
I just...I'm sorry, but I can't believe that differences in ability don't exist. I would have to deny the reality of a huge amount of my life experience to accept that. I KNOW that I did not try markedly harder than other kids to read, write, and do math at an early age, and I did not try less hard than other kids to do well socially or to do well at physical activities. Yet, somehow, I was 5+ years ahead of my peers in reading and writing and 5+ years behind in phys ed. Differences in effort were obviously not responsible for this. Differences in environment were not primarily responsible for this, because I was way out of step developmentally even with other kids who were raised in similar homes. Some people's brains just work differently from others and give them different sets of abilities.
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Date: 2011-08-17 01:10 am (UTC)I just...I'm sorry, but I can't believe that differences in ability don't exist. I would have to deny the reality of a huge amount of my life experience to accept that. I KNOW that I did not try markedly harder than other kids to read, write, and do math at an early age, and I did not try less hard than other kids to do well socially or to do well at physical activities. Yet, somehow, I was 5+ years ahead of my peers in reading and writing and 5+ years behind in phys ed. Differences in effort were obviously not responsible for this. Differences in environment were not primarily responsible for this, because I was way out of step developmentally even with other kids who were raised in similar homes. Some people's brains just work differently from others and give them different sets of abilities.