Maxwell's Demon

It is a generally accepted Law of Thermodynamics that Entropy (disorder) always increases.

If one had a cooler with two ice-cubes in it and a kettle of boiling-hot water, that would be ordered. The cold was in one place and the hot was in another.

If one dumped the ice-cubes into the water, the two would combine in a irreversible way to create luke-warm water. It would not be possible reconstitute the ice-cubes and boiling water without expending more energy (and creating more disorder in other places).

James Clerk Maxwell proposed a way to violate that Law of Thermodynamics. It involved the use of "demons".

Suppose for a moment that "hot" molecules are molecules with high velocity and "cold" molecules are slower molecules. Also suppose that in any vast assembly of molecules there are both "fast" and "slow" molecules and that the measured temperature is the weighted average of all species, fast and slow, of molecules.

Furthermore, suppose the wall of the vessel holding the brazillians of molecules has a tiny, massless door that is operated by a tiny, massless demon; Maxwell's Demon. When a high-velocity molecule is about to bounce off the wall, the demon will open the door and let it pass into the vessel next to the one in question. When a slower molecule is about to impinge on the door, the demon does not open it, the molecule bounces off the door and stays in the original vessel.

Over time, the high-speed molecules end up in the adjacent vessel (hotter gas) and the slow ones remain in the original vessel (colder gas).

Rather than irreversible mixing, the system becomes more ordered over time by the simple expedient of a gate that opens and closes.

Tracking vs Mainstreaming

"Tracking" in the educational context is the practice of testing young students to determine their natural aptitudes and then to put them on "race tracks" to most fully-develop their inherent aptitudes. Those who take to math like ducks to water get lots of math. Those with musical ability get immersed in music. Language==>language. Mechanical skills==>shop classes and so on.

This comes at the expense of less development of the skills they have less natural aptitude for.

"Mainstreaming" is the trend of mixing students mixing students regardless of aptitude. That results in some students becoming frustrated and becoming behavior problems because they are expected to learn materials that they have no hope of mastering. It also results in brighter students being held back and they become behavior problems out of boredom.

It is my opinion that "Tracking" in education is the closest thing we have to Maxwell's Demon and is the only viable tool we have to beat entropy and disorder.

False empathy

Critics of tracking claim that it denies "differently-abled" students the chance to become college educated. Most of these critics have college educations and their criticism smacks of "They will not have a chance to be just like ME!"

Such an attitude stinks of arrogance and an inability to see that excellence is possible in all professions and at all levels of formal education. Eric Hofer was a longshoreman. Jesus Christ was a carpenter. Amos slashed sycamore fruit. Abraham Lincoln split logs to make fences.