Ability Profiling And School Failure Essay

Ability Profiling and School Failure by Kathleen Collins illustrates how Laura’s generalizations and lack effort to understand Jay hindered his ability to grow throughout the school year. This lack of understanding in the complexity of Jay’s learning experience reveals a greater systematic issue. Laura constantly blamed Jay’s behavior on his upbringing and labeled him as emotionally impaired. In this complex situation Laura did not look at all the possibilities for Jay’s performance in school. She had a preconceived idea of Jay’s abilities, which led her to her harsh treatment of Jay. Laura’s management skills are not viable solutions especially since she isn’t giving an unbiased effort. These actions are apparent in the teachings of Jay when she presumed Jay had a lack of competence. As an educator she would not

In several instances, Jay would not be able to contain his excitement what Laura is teaching. He would keep his hand stretched high and not be called on at all or to be chosen last out of the people with their hands up. One moment Kathleen notes this is when Laura is explaining the directions to her class. Kathleen writes “Laura’s description lasts 26 minutes, and although Jay raises his hand several times, he is not called on and remains silent while Laura talks. Five other students do raise their hands and are acknowledged. Laura’s description of how to write the reports lasts nearly 30 minutes” (49). If Laura was ignoring Jay because she wanted to move on or because she wanted other kids to participate, she could have at least acknowledged Jay rather than make him feel invisible. Simple comments made to Jay may have helped boost his confidence in class. Additionally, Laura’s instructions lasted for nearly an hour, which is considerably a long time to go unrecognized by Laura when Jay evidently had something to