Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-03-15
Mass Demotion Plan

plan deserves q reply 1IOIn d
professional educator who, for
personal reasons, prefers to re-
main anonymous.
Gen. Lane believes that all
children are equally able to
learn, that when children are
in school they should achieve
equally or else be failed, and
that when a child does not
learn as well as the other chill
dren of his age group, the fault
lies with the child or with the
teacher or with the method of
instruction.
The facts of educational psy-
chology known today show
clearly that children are not
born with equal potential
(heredity) for learning, they
have unequal preschool eXper-
fences, they come from unequal
homes, and have unequal
health and physique Hence, to
expect each child to achieve
school progress equal to other
children of his same age group
is to expect the impossible.
Teachers should expect each
child to make school progress
in terms of the ability of that
child. To expect each child to
reach the same academic
standards is unrealistic and
grossly unfair to children.
Schools want children to grow
academically as much as pos
sible. but artificial grade stand
ards which reflect the achieve
ment of superior. average, and
dull, w-learning are mean
ingless when applied to an in
dividual child who must be
taught and graded in terms
of his own unique, personal
ability to learn. No child is
exactly like any other child.
There never was a child just
like him before nor will any
child be just like him in the
future. Hence the teacher must
adjust her expectations of each
child's learning ability to the
ability of the child at hand.
She must know the ability of
each child she teaches and
then see to it by individual
attention that each child pro-
crosses as rapidly as is pos
Sible for that child.
Grade levels of achievement
are artif1cially created meas
ureS to help school admins
traitors group children by So
called homogeneous grouping.
There is no such thing as a
homogeneous group; any group
OF children which by chance
would be relatively the same
in September would be several
grades apart by midyear, for
children have varying rates of
mental and physical growth.
In any grade in any school in
the United States there will be
an overlap of several grade
levels above and below the
grade chosen. For example, in
a normal seventh-grade class
there will be a small number
of children who are several
grades below in various sub
lect fields, and another small
group will score several grades
above the seventh grade in
those abilities. A profession
ally trained teacher in a class
OF a size she can teach with
class size over 80 the teacher
keeps not teaches SCHOOL, will
be able to adjust the work and
her achievement expectations
to each child's individual diff
ferenceS. There is no magic
IN grade levels. No amount of
pressure will force a dull, slow
learning child to meet grade
standards. To retard vast
numbers of children who do
not reach, in each grade, the
standards" of that grade is
not desirable on educational
grounds children learn about
, rs per cent on repeating a
grade) and is not possible on
financial grounds. Each lower
class is larger than the class
ahead tthe postwar birth curve
took care of this, and chill
dren must be moved along the
educational ladder with their
normal age group to make
room for those following. We
don't have room for children
now with present school ia
cilltles. In addition, why doom
all slow-learners to failure.
ridicule and pressure they cam
not face, in order to try to
orlng each child to a level of
achievement which his ability
cannot enable him to reach?
instead, school learning
should be adjusted within each
grade for each child. to enable
each child to grow from where
ne is, as rapidly as good teach
Ing, close personal attention
and encouragement can helm
MIN to grow. Children who are
tailed because school is too
hard for them play truant,
misbehave and quit.
Gen. Lane alleges that 30