Quote:
Originally Posted by lucifer_sam
I'm sure it sucks for those kids but the goal of special education isn't to segregate schools into "normal" and "not normal," it's to give those kids an extra hand so they don't fail all their classes. I'm aware that there's plenty of kids that simply have learning disabilities, do you find it justifiable that many of them won't graduate because of their disabilities when they're otherwise completely functional?
I was actually on the other side of the fence, in an accelerated learning program for the majority of my primary and secondary schooling (once we started taking AP and college classes it became somewhat unnecessary). Shortly after I graduated, the school district completely removed that system, forcing the more intelligent students to assume the same mediocre role as everybody else. What kind of message do you think this sends to children?
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I'm not saying that children need to be all lumped into the same category, but I'm also not saying that they should be segregated. I've worked with a lot of children with developmental delays, mostly autism, and when placed in a special needs setting they don't do nearly as well as when they are integrated into the classroom. Yes, it benefits them to have an integration aide, but not all day every day and not in a way that separates them from the rest of the class. At the moment I have a class with 2 ASD kids and 2 kids with other social disorders. They do not have aides or special programs, and the lessons that I and my mentor teacher plan incorporate them into the classroom and allow them to perform to their best ability. The fact that they get to do the same work as everybody else makes them feel included and confident.
Classroom teachers should be able to plan lessons that cater for different developmental stages. Assistance for those children who need it and more challenging work for those who are 'accelerated.'
What kind of message do you think it sends children to be separated in different groups according to ability? That's not what it's like in the 'real world,' if we're arguing that the primary goal of education is to prepare children for life...