Have you ever imagined taking the SAT or ACT in middle school? Duke TIP(Talent identification Program) gives younger students an opportunity to take these standardized tests, which are used for college admissions(录取).

Since 1979, Duke University has supported Duke TIP, an organization that encourages academic(学业的) achievement. In addition to organizing the exams for excellent students, the program also offers summer enrichment programs, online courses, and need-based help, among other resources.

On May 22, Duke TIP held its Grand Recognition Ceremony at the university in Durham, North Carolina. The event celebrated the achievements of this year’s seventh graders who scored in the highest 4 percent.

Top seventh graders are invited to take part in Summer Studies, where they can take different kinds of courses such as aerospace engineering to web development. While the 7^th Grade Talent Search is the highlight of the program, students from grades 4 through 10 are allowed to take part in all kinds of Duke TIP programs.

Duke TIP’s Executive Director, Shawna Young, took part in the program when she was growing up. “I remember always being told I was smart and one day getting that letter in the mail from Duke, this university that was so well known,” she said. “I remember taking the SAT in seventh grade, walking in, and feeling that everybody was bigger than me. Not knowing how to answer all the questions, just trying to do my best. I left that experience more confident. It made me believe that it was OK to be myself.”

Young added that one of the best parts of Duke TIP is the creation of a group of like-minded students.

I was among the 500 seventh graders who were honored at this year’s ceremony, where three excellent Duke TIP alumni(校友) who have made great achievements in their own fields were also recognized. Who knows where the future will lead this year’s stars.

A report released this month found that grouping children by ability is on the rise again—teaching students in groups of similar ability has improved achievements for fast and slow learners alike—and who wouldn’t want bright kids to be able to move ahead?

But for most kids, labels (标签) applied early in life tend to stick, even if they are wrong.

Sorting school children by ability has long been controversial. In some countries, especially in Asia, school-wide tracking (分流) remains normal. Children are tested and placed in different schools that direct them toward professional or vocational careers. Movement between the tracks is rare.

School-wide tracking decreased in US schools in the 1960s and 1970s. It never died out, though. Sorting students into separate tracks for math at about junior high school age continues to be common, and other forms of tracking persist as well.

Unlike tracking, which means sorting students into separate classrooms, ability grouping happens within classrooms. When done according to the latest research, it has proven to promote achievements. Ability grouping is changeable and temporary. Within classrooms, students might be divided into different learning groups dealing with materials of different levels. Any students who master concepts can move upward between groups, and the student groups might look different from subject to subject and unit to unit. For instance, a student who stands out in language arts might be at an average or slower level in math. A student who flies through multiplication tables might need extra help with fractions. Students who lag in reading can be pulled out of the classroom in small groups for practice with a tutor until their reading improves.

Research shows ability grouping within classes has more positive benefits than tracking. However, that must be weighed against the challenges involved. In many regular classrooms, the differences between student ability levels are very big. That presents challenges for teachers and low-performing students to constantly compare themselves with students who seem to fly through school with ease.

The rigid ability groups and tracking of the past are still with us in many schools. Likely, labels are applied with more caution than in the bad old days when some teachers gave reading groups not-so-secret code names like “Bluebirds”, “Robins”, “Crows” and “Buzzards”. But kids still know.

Community Service

Nowadays high schools are faced with a very controversial issue whether or not community service hours are needed to graduate. High schools are arguing that 40 hours of community service are needed to graduate, but many upset students are voicing protests(反对) to this demand.

Supporters of the community service project argue that while high school students are participating in community service, they will become better aware of what the real world is like. Students will learn valuable life lesson by doing community service. 【小题1】 They feel that if high school students are forced to do community service they will begin to see it as a punishment and as something that they have to do because it is required instead of something that they want to do. Students will in the future look back at the community service projects that they were forced to do throughout high school. 【小题2】

Another idea that the protestors give about this community service issue is time restriction. When a student goes to school full time, he is involved in after-class activities and also works. 【小题3】 Supporters argue back that high school students only need to fulfill 40 hours of community service throughout 4 years. If students well manage their time and start the community service in their first year in high school, all they need to do is an hour every other week.

【小题4】 The protestors argue that high school students do not have their driver’s license, so how are they expected to get to their community service site when their parents or friends are at work or just too busy to give them a ride. 【小题5】 The supporters argue that students can find community service projects close to home or if they live in the country find another student to car pool with.

In my opinion, community service is a wonderful thing that everyone should be required to do at some point in their life, but are high school students mature and responsible enough to take on community service projects at this stage in their life?