Tracking by Aaron Zephir

I do not think that tracking should be eliminated all together, but I will admit that it needs to be altered. As it stands now, the idea of tracking is not the problem, as much as the way it is enacted in schools. In a perfect world, tracking would be used to further the education of all students. However, in reality, the higher tracks are given better resources and teachers to succeed and, as such, receive an exhaustively better education than those of lower tracks. The problem is that schools and teachers, being aware of the status of each track, subconsciously (usually/hopefully) give more effort in trying to help the higher tracks succeed. That problem becomes compounded when minorities are often put into the lower tracks due to stereotypes, which further degrades the education and chances of advancement of minority races. In one article, one teacher brought up an interesting solution to the problem; tracking would be based on "how" people learn as opposed to how quickly. In this sense, students would still be grouped with similar minds and would no one would receive a lesser education because in this type of tracking, there is no lesser track. And even if minorities are put into a certain track due to stereotypes, they will still have an opportunity at a good education.