Do Public School Students Need Special Ed. Anymore?
Do we need special education anymore? Some parents might say no—that a regular class with high expectations, possibly some support, is all that is necessary.
Arne Duncan has stated that students with disabilities should rise to the same level as other students. He has called for a “major shift” in how special education students are treated. What do you think that means? I think it means no more special ed.
This anti-special ed. notion showed up to me recently in an old King of the Hill episode about NCLB and testing. To increase test scores, a stereotypical, lazy principal stuck equally lazy students (who would lower the scores) into a self-contained special ed. class. There they could get out of the test. Hank found out and got the students to work hard and they eventually got stellar scores. The takeaway—NCLB is great and self-contained special ed. classes are useless (for anyone), and teachers running such classes are dunderheads. Yes, the teacher of the self-contained class was portrayed as such. The class was insulting.
For such a silly show, this message packed a punch. The special ed./no special ed. argument has always run parallel to NCLB. Having taught in this area for many years, high expectations have always been part of the profession that I know, so much so, that when NCLB advocates began attacking teachers with the “soft-bigotry of low expectations” line, it seemed ludicrous. Why would any teacher go into teaching without high expectations? But why must high-expectations always mean the same expectations? Race to the Top and Common Core State Standards is no better.
Shouldn’t there be a demand for more and better assistance to address young people Do Public School Students Need Special Ed. Anymore?: