Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Treating (Teaching) Children "Equally" is Unfair

You hear these statements all the time…

We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal…
Everyone is equal before the law.
Teachers should treat all students equally.

One platitude after another…

Who can disagree with these assertions?

After all, isn't treating everyone equally the same as fairness?

Teaching is Different than Running a Lunch Counter

This article is about providing love, service, protection and caring instruction to every child.

In fact, children of illegal immigrants, the children of the same religion of the terrorist airplane hijacker, the children who come to school wearing the same dirty tee-shirt for weeks at a time…deserve to be treated fairly.

But, for all the compassion, empathy and caring that teachers hold; for all the dedication that teachers donate to students and our society by perfecting their instructional skills; treating children equally is unfair.

In fact, treating children equally turns out to be stingy, uncaring and unkind.

Here we expose some of the effects of the "Treat/ Teach all children equally" prescription…


http://classroomtoolkit.net/serendipity/archives/80-Feature-Article.html#extended

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