Education Criticism

The Dutch educational system divides children in educational levels at around the age of 12. A test called the “Cito Eindtoets Basisonderwijs” is done to help choose the appropriate level of education. Although not a complete binding factor it does have great influence in the decision making process. Unless caretakers identify the need, in most cases an IQ test is not given to a child, resulting in some children that for various secondary reasons do not function well at school but do have the mental ability for doing the higher levels are mistakenly send to the lower levels of education. Even though this is a known problem, this policy has been kept into place. Within a few years these children can fall far behind in development compared to the children that were send to the higher levels. If the need is identified it is possible for students to go up in level. If doubt was noticed early on, an orientation year may be of aid. However changing level later may require a lot of extra effort,motivation and time resulting in some students not to reach their full potential. 60% of students initially go to the lower (vmbo) educational system. Research has shown that 30% of gifted children are mistakenly advised to go to the lower levels. Amongst this particular group of children, there also is a higher than normal percentage of dropouts (leaving school without a diploma). Students that do not climb up are virtually exempted from attending university. Although IQ testing may aid to reduce mistakes in choosing direction significantly, scientific research has shown that IQ is not fixed completely at such a young age and may still improve, especially given the proper exposure to education, which the current Dutch system by design (too early separation into levels) may fail to provide. Another part of concern is that although parents can have influence on the schools decision making process, not all parents do so equally, resulting in unequal chances for the children.