As I write this blog, I am surprised, disappointed, and maybe, just a little jealous.  Let me explain.  When I was in school, tracking didn't exist, or at least they claimed it didn't.  Students weren't grouped by ability based on any specific test and they were most certainly not locked in to any particular track of learning.  At least that's what parents were told.  As  student, I remember thinking that the same kids were always in my class just like those kids over there always seemed to be in the same class.  I chalked it up to coincidence but the hind-sight reality is that tracking did exist, but it wasn't called tracking.  After reading an NY Times article about a Connecticut school system that has just recently decided to gradually move away from the tracking system, I was surprised to find that this practice of tracking was still being put to use.  As an educator, we are taught that tracking is a very bad practice and whatever minimal benefits it may provide are far outweighed by the negative consequences.  To read that students in this school system have not only been tracked but can identify which track they are in, was surprising.  It is disappointing to read that students can so easily identify which track they are in.  The students, and I know personally, feel inferior and trapped by this system. Now for the jealousy.  As an educator, I have taught many mixed-ability classes.  I have had students of all types cross the threshold.  I enjoy the experiences and input each individual can bring to the classroom but I wonder if teaching a class of accelerated students who want to learn and whose parents encourage them to pursue excellence, what would that be like?  Would it be like a dream class?  I don't want to promote the idea of tracking but I will admit there were times when I would look out across the crazy mixture of ability and desire that filled the room and wish for something like this.