Mixed-ability classes may do more harm than good
I read the report “Some primary schools doing away with ‘top classes’” (May 15) with concern.
We should not compromise our pupils’ education just because we wish to “reduce unhealthy competition and promote interaction among pupils of different strengths and interests”.
I agree with the removal of the ranking of pupils, to prevent them chasing the last mark, but doing away with grouping pupils in classes based on academic results is a tad overboard and yields more harm than benefits.
Mixed-ability teaching means either the higher-ability pupils learn faster, at the expense of the lower-ability pupils, or the class is pitched at a lower level and the higher-ability pupils’ learning is impeded.
Even if different instructions are given, the teacher’s focus would be diverted between the two groups, and both would suffer.
This would affect the pupils’ cognitive development, which is still an important part of a child’s education, despite the Education Ministry’s attempts to reduce the emphasis on academic results. Our schools’ credibility would also come into question.
Some might argue that this change in class distribution will eliminate the cultivation of an elitist mindset from a young age. I beg to differ.
If a pupil is unable to learn more owing to the slower pace, he would soon think that the lower-ability pupils are holding him back.
This would lead to discrimination against the weaker pupils in their own class — a class segregated into cliques — and bullying would ensue, which is what should be avoided.
Furthermore, it takes only one teacher to say “Look at so-and-so, he can do this question, why can’t you?” to put down a child and cultivate an elitist mindset in another.
Having mixed-ability classes is not one of the ways to eliminate elitist mindsets among our pupils.
There are other ways to promote interaction among students of varying academic abilities, strengths and interests, for example through co-curricular activities, orientation activities and school-based festivals, or by mixing classes up from subject to subject.
Let us remember that this is not about how wide our pupils’ social circles are, but more about their pursuit of knowledge, which is critical to their development as well as their future success.
The ministry mentioned that the way pupils are separated into classes is up to the schools’ “professional judgment”.
I hope these are isolated cases, and that other schools will not have to follow in their footsteps.
