When daughter Kathryn was in fifth grade, her teacher went on and on to me and Tom (aka husband and father) about how good she was in language arts. After Tom said, we think she is very good in math as well, the teacher said- oh yes, it's just when a girl is as good as Kathryn in language arts, that's what I think of.

This was not a bad teacher- but her view of Kathryn was limited about what girls are supposed to be like. In that class Kathryn got praise and enrichment opportunities in language arts. Again this wasn't bad, but it was also limiting. This story gains importance when it is tied into the dreaded tracking decisions because teacher perceptions of what students are (and aren't) good at are an important component of tracking decisions.