So you want to abolish streaming?

Abolish streaming!

Let's have just one common stream, no more labels, no more discrimination, no more stress and everyone will be happy.

Really?

In reality, without streaming, the weaker students are disadvantaged and the brighter ones penalized. How does a bright child learn at a faster pace and the weaker one go slower when everyone is thrown into the same end of the pool?

If you are a swimming coach, you will not put students of different abilities into the same group. You WILL separate them into groups according to the level of ability they have attained. This allows you to design your lessons that enable the students in each group to make further progress without anyone being held back.

Education is much like learning how to swim. You group your students according to their level of proficiency so that the brighter ones can run on the fast track while the weaker ones can go at a pace they can manage so that their foundation can be consolidated and strengthen and THAT gives them a fighting chance to succeed. And you do want to catch a floundering child as early as possible before he gets discouraged.

Why stream?
 
Streaming at primary four was introduced by Dr Goh Keng Swee in 1980. This followed a comprehensive review of the education system. At that time, dropout rates and education wastage were high. Streaming was introduced to reduce dropout rates by allowing students to learn at their own pace and within their own capabilities.

With the introduction of streaming, the education system moved away from a one-size-fits-all system to a system that creates multiple pathways for students.

Nature does not endow everyone with the same intelligence, gifts and talents. Therefore each one of us has our own mountain peak to conquer, not a peak that is imposed from outside.

A good education system is a diverse system that caters to the different learning temperaments, abilities and interests of students, not a rigid system that forces everyone into a common stream.

That call to remove streaming is a regressive one, well-intentioned by some and populist in approach by others, is a regressive one representing a big step backward.

 http://on.fb.me/1FEZ9dG