Academic Tracking

In response to “Life in the Academic Fast Track,” by Ruben Navarrette Jr., Opinion, April 12:

My heart really goes out to Navarrette for having been subjected to the fast track in school. I assume he would have been much happier had he been held back by the slow students in a heterogenous academic setting.

As an educator I am getting a little tired of the constant cry of discrimination as an excuse for poor academic achievement. And the sense of guilt and embarrassment that the writer feels for having been given the opportunity to achieve according to his maximum ability is beyond my comprehension. Having taught both heterogenous and homogenous classes, I can readily attest that all levels of students benefit from the latter. And, yes, there are different levels of intellectual ability. Recognizing that is not prejudice.

Navarrette’s argument also lacks logical consistency. On the one hand, he argues that tracking is discriminatory because minority students are labeled inferior and are considered less intelligent than their white classmates. But further on he argues that the greater injustice is in recognizing the capabilities of minority students. He cannot have it both ways. Egalitarianism in education won’t work. Academic excellence must be recognized and lauded for all groups. For him to suggest that educators be held liable for punitive damages because they dare to encourage academic excellence is unconscionable.

Until the leaders of the minority communities start fostering the values of schooling and academic achievement and stop blaming all the ills on discrimination, all our students--and the future of our country--will suffer.

HARRY TEITELBAUM

Laguna Niguel