A propôs streaming and the trades: At the end of the '50s I was streamed out of Grade 8 into a high school class for university-bound geniuses who were supposed to catch up to the Russians and take back the lead in the space-race. Because we would do the five years 9-13 in four, we got no choices: mandatory sciences and math, heavy on academic essentials like Latin. I got great marks in maths and science — in everything but English Lit — and in Grade 13 a few of us did History on our own at lunch, because our timetables had no room for it. Missed Ontario Scholar by .5%
But what I wanted to do was art and shop. Once in university I scraped through at pass level, dropping out in my final year. I was I making up for all that lost time, writing and acting in plays and 8mm movies, designing and building scenery, hanging out in coffee-houses with folkies. Apart from a couple of years detouring back to McGill to become a librarian and respectable family breadwinner, that stuff I was streamed away from was all I've ever done to earn my way since: designing, drawing, building, engineering, mechanizing, plumbing and electrifying to make stuff to get oohs and ahas.
I'd have been better off at Tech, and maybe NTS or OCA after that. Not that I'm complaining, but as many people say — perhaps most people — high school and its streams were something to overcome. But we shouldn't be too judgemental; considering parents get it as wrong as they do, so often, and they've known the kids for years. As long as schools operate like doctors (First do no harm) the kids'll be ahead of the game, when they take over their lives.
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Far as I know, none of us 'geniuses' ever beat any Russians at anything. And the earliest 'success' amongst us was the guy who quit after grade 9. Older TERBians may still have some of his recordings.