Discuss the conflict perspective on education and explain how tracking produces social inequality
What will be an ideal response?
Tracking refers to the practice of assigning students to specific curriculum groups and courses on the basis of their test scores, previous grades, or other criteria. Conflict theorists believe that tracking seriously affects many students' educational performance and their overall academic accomplishments.
In elementary schools, tracking is often referred to as ability grouping and is based on the assumption that it is easier to teach a group of students who have similar abilities. However, class-based factors also affect which children are most likely to be placed in "high," "middle," or "low" groups. Tracking does make it possible for students to work together based on their perceived abilities and at their own pace; however, it also extracts a serious toll for students who are labeled as "underachievers" or "slow learners.". Race, class, language, gender, and many other social categories may determine the placement of children in elementary tracking systems as much or more than their actual academic abilities and interests. The practice of tracking continues in middle school/junior high and high school.
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