Age segregation in schools

Age segregation in schools, age grading, or graded education is the separation of students into years of education (grades, forms) by approximately the same age. It is based on the theory that learners of the same age at the same level of social and intellectual maturity should be taught at the same pace.[1] Here, schools classify learners according to age cohorts with the expectation that those with similar age share needs, abilities, and interests.[2] It also forms part of the standardized learning organized in stages and progresses in predictable and known ways.[2]

History

The concept of age-segregated school is considered a recent historical development, with scholars noting that during the late eighteenth century students of widely varying ages in many European countries attend school together, a practice that was also adopted in the United States.[3] In colonial America, it was customary to teach students of various ages in one classroom by one teacher.[1] The graded education was only introduced from 1848 to 1870[4] after several American educators such as Horace Mann were impressed and, thereafter, adopted the Prussian graded school model.[1][5] The first American graded school was the Quincy Grammar School in Boston, Massachusetts.[1]

Age grading in schools has significant impact on age segregation among adolescent peer groups.[6]

See also

References
  1. Hunt, Thomas; Carper, James; Lasley, Thomas; Rasch, Daniel (2010). Encyclopedia of Educational Reform and Dissent, Volume 1. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE. p. 33. ISBN 9781412956642.
  2. Greenstein, Anat (2016). Radical Inclusive Education: Disability, teaching and struggles for liberation. New York: Routledge. p. 92. ISBN 9780415709248.
  3. Warr, Michael (2002). Companions in Crime: The Social Aspects of Criminal Conduct. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 18-19. ISBN 0521810833.
  4. Frederick Dean McClusky, Introduction of Grading into the Public Schools of New England, Part II,The Elementary School Journal, Vol. 21, No. 2 (Oct., 1920), pp. 132-145
  5. Hardaway, Robert (1995). America Goes to School: Law, Reform, and Crisis in Public Education. Westport, CT: Praeger. pp. ix. ISBN 0275949516.
  6. SpringerLink - Journal Article
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