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I would argue, for example, "students should take algebra when they understand the prerequisites for algebra."

* The second point is that you can't know your limits until you push toward them in a way that is appropriate for you. Here is where the "nurture" part of things comes in. Pushing to your limits requires internal drive, help from family, teachers, coaches, circumstances, and so on.

Letting different kids go through a math book at differen rates is simply acknowledging different individual limits. It isn't saying that the kids in the slower group aren't being given a right to "try," as is argued by proponents of equity-based educational outcomes. In fact, letting them go more slowly will likely increase the probability that they'll learn more than they would have, had they been forced to go through material too quickly. A rate of learning is subject to limits, just as anything else.

Val