Bubble Children

On page 71 of Tony Wagner's The Global Achievement Gap, he talks about students who are called "Bubble Children."  Students who are bubble children are those students who can pass the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) test with just a little bit of help.  The quote that he gives on pages 71 and 72 tell the teacher to split their class into three different groups.  The group that can succeed without any help at all.  The group that can succeed at the test with only a little bit of help.  And finally, the "kids who have no chance of passing this year and the kids that don't count-the "hopeless cases"...

This is unacceptable, and yet it happens in classes way too much.  Even when I was a student, before the NCLB became integral to graduate, they did this.  I was always put into the last group of the "hopeless cases" because I was slow in some of the areas, especially math and science.  But I had two teachers, one in math and one in science who helped me in ways that I don't think they even could realize. 

The math teacher, Ms. Jagusch, was one of those terrifying women who give you nightmares because they are so scary.  I had her for 6th grade math, and she showed me that I can do math.  Up until that point, I reacted to math class much the same way I reacted to reading before fourth grade.  I hated it, so I didn't focus because I couldn't even understand it.  But she pulled me aside one day and said, "You are not an idiot, you can do this, I believe in you."  To be told this by the scary teacher of the year was amazing.  But unfortunately, I had from K-5 to catch up on, so I was still behind.  But in college, we have to take this course called "Mathematics for Elementary Teachers" where you learn all about basic math.  This helped me a lot.

Then, there was another teacher, whose name I cannot remember now.  He was the best science teacher I ever have had, he was my 8th grade science teacher.  The topic of science class that year was earth.  Basically, meteorology, the rock cycle, magma vs. lava, etc.  And he pulled me aside, just like Ms. Jagusch, "You can do this, if you need help, I am here to help you."  But there was a hierarchy there again that I had missed just like in Math.

These students need our help, and just because they can't pass a test we are going to give up on them?  That is not acceptable to me.  I am okay with helping the "bubble children" but I refuse to give up on students who are "hopeless cases" because no one deserves to be labeled as a "hopeless case."  And I think that that is what happens to many students who are diagnosed with EBD or any disability for that matter, people are afraid that they will catch the disability.  Or people are uncomfortable around people with disabilities.  This idea of a bubble child and then lower is unacceptable to me.  All students need the education that their needs require, not the same education.