I am NOT a Turtle

(and Other Tragedies of Tracking)

by Christopher de Vinck

When I was in the first grade, all the children in my class were divided into three reading groups: robins, rabbits, and turtles. I suppose the robins soared above everyone else; the rabbits could not quite fly yet, but they were pretty fast; and the turtle, well, no one ever said outright what the turtles could do, but we all knew. I was told that I was a turtle.

In seventh grade, I wanted to be on the safety patrol. Children had to be elected to that post by their classmates, and then they could wear the yellow belts that slipped around their waists and shoulders. Brian Olsen was elected year after year to the safety patrol, as were Jack, Cara, Jason, Shawn, Nancy, and Kendra. I was never elected.

In my high school, there was a party. Tom, my best friend at the time, and I decided to see what was going on. We, in our blue jeans and T Shirts, drove to Kendra's house, rang the doorbell, and waited. After a correct moment, the door opened, and there stood Kendra in a semi formal dress.

I could see deep inside her house. Jack, Jason, and Shawn wore jackets and ties. Nancy sat on a couch with a tall, thin glass in her hand. "Ah," Kendra began, "I'm afraid this is a party by invitation only, you guys." What she was really saying is that Tom and I weren't good enough.

When I was a senior in high school, my guidance counselor said that I shouldn't bother applying to any colleges because I wouldn't be accepted.

For 12 years in school, I was told that I didn't measure up, that I wasn't good enough, that I didn't belong with the regular students, that I didn't hang around with the right kids. For 12 years in school, I was identified year after year as a weak speller, a slow reader, a poor math student, and I was tracked into the bottom classes.

Amazing Ability

Do you know what it does to a child when he hears he is stupid? The "S" word is never stated in schools by teachers or administrators. You will never find the "S" word on any official school records, but children have an amazing sense for understanding guilt by association: remedial education, tracking, general math, basic English.

I have been a high school English teacher for the past 15 years. Yesterday morning, I stepped into my classroom to write some vocabulary words on the board before the students arrived. I walked up to the front of the room.

I was about to place my briefcase down on the side of my chair when I found, stretched out like a happy yellow shake, a safety patrol belt. I had told my students the day before that I once wanted to be a part of something when I was a child, something important in the eyes of others, like the safety patrol.

As my students sat down for the vocabulary lesson, I began looking for a certain smile on the face of one of my students, and there he was; Michael. "I was on the safety patrol many years ago," he confessed, "and I never turned in my belt. You can keep it, Mr. de Vinck."

I have a doctorate from Columbia University, and have published books with Doubleday and Viking. My third book, Augusta and Trab, is a children's novel which will be published by McMillan in October. I have written articles for The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The American Scholar, and The College Board Review. But none of those accomplishments means as much to me as the gesture of honor and kindness created by my 16 year old student. I wore that safety patrol belt all day. It has taken me many, many years to repair the damage that my elementary school and high school had done to my self esteem.

We do not practice true democratic ideals in many of our school systems across the county. There is a clear aristocracy in the classrooms, perpetuated through the leveling of children. Tracking students in grammar school and in high school is wrong. Labelling students is wrong.

I am NOT a turtle.

Ed Note: Christopher de Vinck is a K 12 Language Arts Supervisor, Wayne Township Public Schools, Wayne, New Jersey. This is a condensed reprint from the July 29, 1993 issue of The Evangelist.

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Ed. Note: This article appeared in the Fall '95 GRADDA Newsletter

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