Continuing with article 1:
"
America's gifted education programs have a race problem. Can it be fixed?"
by Danielle Dreilinger,
The Hechinger Report,
October 14, 2020,
published by NBCnews.
Having the feeling that several thoughts had occurred to me which had not yet been posted, I once again began reading the article from the top.
Paragraphs 2 & 3 compare and contrast two schools, in this manner:
Paragraph 2 describes an activity engaged in by 22 fourth graders at one school. Paragraph 3 immediately follows with a description of a simpler activity engaged in by 13 students at a different school. While readers contemplate the differences in activities, the article mentions that the first school has the highest test scores, while the second school barely has 25% proficiency.
In this presentation of the material, a detail may be lost on readers: the student activity described at the first school was being undertaken by FOURTH grade students, while the simpler activity at the second school was being undertaken by FIRST grade students. This is an invalid comparison. Readers should not accept the author's implication that the schools present different curriculum, lesson plans, and activities.
Readers should note that the author chose to compare/contrast 4th graders with 1st graders, and ask why. For all we know, the 4th graders at both schools may have been engaged in the same activity simultaneously, in "airy" classrooms, while the first graders at both schools may have been engaged the same activity simultaneously, in "basement" classrooms conducive to running around, chasing paper airplanes, and being loud without disrupting other classes in session.
More later, as time allows.
