Reading response: Three curricula all schools teach

I stopped when I read " competitiveness … is also fostered by the differentiation of classes into ability groups". In the high school I worked last year, there are honors Math classes. And some students who successfully compete for grades can apply grade skipping. I observed that students in the honor classes are more active than the students in the regular classes. The learning contents in both classes are actually the same, except students in honor classes have more challenging exercise questions. Eisner asks "why should students whose background or genetic makeup is advantageous be rewarded in this public way?" (p. 91)I think the problem lies in the name. The name of the class should reflect the feature of the course instead of classifying people. For example, "Math class" means students in this class learn mathematics. However, "Elite class" will make people think students in this class are all elites, and that's inappropriate. The same logic for honor class, parents and students think students in honor classes are more honorable. I think changing a name might be a good try. 

"I'd rather learn from one bird how to sing

Than teach ten thousand stars how not to dance"

For my understanding, it means he'd rather do something hard than to do something impossible. Even though the bird does not know how to teach us singing, it is possible to learn singing from the bird. But no matter how hard you try to teach stars how not to dance, they will dance forever if we watch them through the atmosphere. It is mission impossible. However, if it is needed to teach thousands of stars how not to dance, we should try to do this job. After all, nothing is impossible. We shouldn't let "impossible" to stop us before we even start. 

Eisner also stated that " the null curriculum includes the study of economics".(p. 103) Nowadays, many people noticed this point. American mathematician Arthur Benjamin in his 2009 TED talk suggested that high school students should be taught statistics and probability. I think both of them have the same consideration. Last year, when I worked in a high school, I noticed that the Math curriculum has been added a lot of contents related to Economics, Statistics and Probability. Who designed our curriculum? I think no matter who designed it, we all have right and responsibility to improve it. What should be taught and what is the good teaching? Different people will give different answers, but all answers I think should be based on two points: teaching is for learning, and curriculum is built around authentic learning.