A child's learning is a function more of the characteristics of his classmates than those of the teacher.
James S. ColemanRead
It is one thing to take as a given that approximately 70 percent of an entering high school freshman class will not attend college, but to assign a particular child to a curriculum designed for that 70 percent closes off for that child the opportunity to attend college.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the negative impact of low expectations on students' futures.
James S. Coleman's quote emphasizes the importance of not limiting students based on statistical averages. By designing educational curricula to cater only to the majority who may not pursue higher education, we inadvertently restrict individual potential, denying opportunities to those who may aspire to attend college and achieve more than what is expected of them based on generalized statistics.
Themes
EducationOpportunityExpectationsCollegePotential
In practice
Example use cases
During a school board meeting discussing curriculum changes, this quote can be used to advocate for higher expectations for all students.
More from James S. Coleman
All quotes →Similar quotes
Let's face it: Most of us don't realize it, but we are failing our kids as reading role models. The best role models are in the home: brothers, fathers, grandfathers; mothers, sisters, grandmothers. Moms and dads, it's important that your kids see you reading. Not just books - reading the newspaper is good, too.
James PattersonRead
Taking on challenging projects is the way that one grows and extends one's range as a writer, one's technical command, so I consider the time well-spent
Donna TarttRead
Take young researchers, put them together in virtual seclusion, give them an unprecedented degree of freedom and turn up the pressure by fostering competitiveness.
James D. WatsonRead
In some suburban schools, the curriculum is chock-full of rigorous A.P. courses and the parking lot glitters with pricey SUVs, but one doesn't have to look hard to find students who are starving themselves, cutting themselves, or medicating themselves, as well students who are taking out their frustrations on those who sit lower on the social food chain.
Alfie KohnRead
I have just gone over my comet computations again, and it is humiliating to perceive how very little more I know than I did seven years ago when I first did this kind of work.
Maria MitchellRead
People flock in, nevertheless, in search of answers to those questions only librarians are considered to be able to answer, such as "Is this the laundry?" "How do you spell surreptitious?" and, on a regular basis, "Do you have a book I remember reading once? It had a red cover and it turned out they were twins.
Terry PratchettRead