ITS STEREOTYPING NOT STREAMING

The concept of streaming or tracking is not exclusive to north america, This concept is practiced through out the world with variations ranging from minor to major and under different names. I was not familiar with the term "streaming". I googled it and found out that i myself, as a student, had experienced streaming albeit a more democratic version of it. To explain, back home, we have streaming at grade 9 and 11. The power to make the final decision rests with the students and the parents.

However, I observed that in North America, the term has a negative connotation attached to it. You can trace the real reason back to the origins of streaming. It started coming into use at times when schools in North America were enrolling a growing number of immigrants, so streaming was adopted to sort those children viewed as having limited capacity as compared to native children. The intention must have been noble. However, not surprisingly, it quickly took the appearance of internal segregation.

I would like to refer to a statement by a Caribbean woman Jane in one of our readings this week. she has stated that streaming in West Indies is a way to simplify the way how pedagogy is imparted, its not fighting racism. My experience with streaming was also similar to hers in my home country . I think It is stereotyping in the garb of streaming and not streaming per se that is the root cause of student failures. It does not make any sense that how placement of students into programs that they can possibly handle contribute to increasing drop out rates when it is designed to do the exact opposite. For many students, the stigmatization felt in low stream education overwhelms any educational value he/she receives.

I am a proponent of streaming and truly believe in its benefits and in my opinion teaching in the classrooms where kids are streamed according to their ability and interest would be much easier.. However, the only tweaking i would recommend based on my past experience is that (1) kids and parents should be allowed to make an informed decision and (2) there should be an option to easily switch later to correct any mistakes that might have been committed earlier or to accommodate a change of heart on part of the student, something that happens quite often and quite naturally as the kids mature and become more aware of what interests them.