My Opinion When it Comes to Tracking

I think the most difficult thing when it comes to tracking is the stigma that's attached to it. Personally, I have been in the "regular" track for math throughout my high school career. There have been many times where in conversation my class was labeled "stupid math" or "the slow math class". Personally this hasn't impacted me because I am comfortable in the class and know that math isn't my thing. The way I defined math as not being my thing wasn't by my scores on tests and quizzes or how fast I could solve a problem; it was the lack of joy and passion I had for it that lead me to label it that. So personally I have not seen the negative emotional impact tracking has had on me personally. I can understand how it can affect people in a negative way and make them feel, "lesser than," but I think this all has to do with the stigma attached. Everyone learns SO differently and tracking, I believe, allows kids to feel comfortable speaking up during class,  to learn at the pace suitable for them and to give them the ability to grow and flourish. When speaking about tracking, many people talk about the lower half feeling lesser but I think tracking especially addresses the lower half. It is so easy for kids to fall behind in class and many kids when falling behind don't speak up and end up missing information and losing confidence in themselves; the goal is for tracking to lessen the chance of that happening.  If we were to eliminate tracking it would set unrealistic expectations for all students because that would be us saying that all students are capable of doing the same exact work in the same exact time frame. Ideally, the talented teachers teaching the highest track classes, like honors or Ap classes, would also be required to teach the lowest track courses. I think tracking is all about the implementation and if implemented in an effective way and in one where a child could easily change tracks when necessary we could be looking at a very effective system.