A/B testing children

A bug that was an acclaimed feature in my school was the bifurcation of students into 'dull' and 'bright'.

The 'bright students' were in section-A and the 'dull students' were in section-B. Every new entrant was first sent to section-B, tested for an academic year and upon securing 75% marks was promoted to section-A, the next year.

Section-A students had their noses up in the air a bit. They usually came from middle income households and their parents were more educated. They lived in 'respectable' neighbourhoods and distributed chocolates on their birthdays.

Section-B usually had some tough cookies or 'backbenchers' as they were called. They came from poorer homes. Some had stayed on in the 'B version' of their grade for years. They had withstood insults from teachers, abuses – verbal and physical – from parents and jibes from society. But they were the funniest and laughed the hardest. They couldn't care less what anyone thought of them.

I joined this school in grade 4. I started in 4B, but had to bid farewell to my dearest friends in just one year as I got ‘promoted’ to 5A… an adjacent room.

I am uncertain if this vile and depraved social experiment ever lead to better students.But what if the same experiment was, instead, conducted on teachers and management? Could that have led to a better education?

I wonder.