[GSlob]

Everyone has one's limits in every aspect - be it the speed of running or the capacity to learn. Some people do not run into their limits in MIT postdoctoral programs, and others struggle with multiplication table. And everything in between, of course. This would pertain to math and science education for sure, and [albeit maybe in milder form] to the civics as well. Thus the solution would be rigorous segregation of students by ability into parallel streams [say, traditional 5 groups - retardees, dullards, normals, brights and the gifted, IQ cutoffs 70, 90, 110 and 130] with separate and unequal curricula in each stream. Otherwise having a mixed class and common curriculum inevitably results in the teaching to the lowest common denominator. A platoon marches at the speed of its slowest soldier.

[speekinout]

Thus the solution would be rigorous segregation of students by ability into parallel streams [say, traditional 5 groups - retardees, dullards, normals, brights and the gifted, IQ cutoffs 70, 90, 110 and 130]

I'm old enough to have gone to high school when there was a track system. "A" track was for kids who were definitely college bound; they got advanced courses in everything. "B" track was for kids who probably would go to college - they got a solid education, but less rigorous than "A". "C" track was for kids who would probably go to work after school. They got plenty of office skills. Bookkeeping, office machines, and the like. "D" track was for those who were somewhat struggling - the girls got home management, cooking, sewing, etc., and the boys got mechanics, carpentry, etc. "E" track was for the kids (mostly boys) who were disruptive and one step out of the legal system.

It didn't have as much to do with IQ as it did with a work ethic. Some of the kids in the "E" track were much brighter than kids in the "A" track.
It also wasn't uncommon for kids to switch tracks (someone in the "A" track might decide they didn't want to work so hard and move to "B", or someone in "C" might decide to go to college after all, and move to "B")

The combination of ability and willingness to work kept the classes moving at an appropriate pace - very few were hopelessly lost, and very few were too bored to bother.

I'd love to see that system again.