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<p>I would say all this course/track differentiation is <em>because of</em> the dumbing down of American public education. The reason I suggest this is because in the region in which we live in Canada, you simply don’t see the different tracks like you do in the US. In the US it’s as if all college bound kids have to take AP because the regular curriculum does not prepare them adequately. </p>
<p>Where we live, by contrast, for the most part the regular curriculum, that everyone takes (with some exceptions), is similar for everyone, and those going to college are well prepared. </p>
<p>Here, there is no need for ‘most rigorous’ courseload evaluations or imposed courses with exams you have to pay for designed by some external enterprise like College board. There is simply a provincial curriculum that everyone follows. So everyone takes- regardless of their future- english from grade 9 to 12, math from 9 to 12, science from 9 to 11 (but those going into sciences in college would take up to 2 additional full years just of chemistry, physics and/or biology). </p>
<p>It seems to work if you look at the fact that Canadian students do well in university (in Canada or the US), or if you look at international test scores- whether looking at the overall averages between countries by subject, or comparing the top 5% of kids in each country.</p>
<p>But I think this leveling and comparability of students has to be happening at the elementary school level and in terms of leveling of quality and financing between schools at the elementary level. That is unlikely to ever happen. And highschool is too late for that.</p>