Labeling??

 

http://www,edycatuib,cin/refernce/article/advantages-disadvantages-labeling

http://www.multculturalfamilia.com/2011/06/13/at-risk-in-school-what does it mean/

Is labeling students in elementary really necessary? Is there an advantage to such tags? It seems that what started out as a great idea to combat the problems that students face in school as now gone sour. Too many kids are being targeted as being a potential problem before they even get a chance to develop and grow as a student. A student who fits one or more of these criteria are label "At Risk". If a student has at least one disability, been retained in a grade at least once, speaks English poorly,comes from a single parent home,parents are immigrants, is poor according to poverty limits or parents/parent is unemployed. This is supposed to be the criteria regardless of race or socioeconomic status however why is it that in urban schools the only students you see in these programs in large numbers are minorities. How is it that a child can be put in such a category that follow him or her for the rest of his school years solely on outside influences that may or may not effect his academic performance An excerpt from the book, Tyrell, by Coe Booth, a 15  year old minority high school drop out states:"Starting in first grade, them teachers took one look at me and stated putting me in programs for at-risk kids, then at risk boys, then at risk teenagers, Personally, I ain't never knew what the F***I was s'posed to be at risk of except growing up black, but ain't no program I know of gonna change that." how powerful a statement is that. It speaks volume. How many kids will feel this way because of being label "at risk" and being placed in special programs? There needs to be reform. Teachers need to see children as individuals and not have preconceived notions because of where a kid comes from or how a kid behaves. There are some that my argue that labels are necessary to get federal funding for programs. Others may argue that labeling brings public awareness to problems facing today's students. This all may have weight but it seems in public urban schools labeling is just modern day segregation and racism.