Saturday, June 5, 2010

Why Help One and Hurt Many?

I am in complete and total agreement that all students need and deserve the same educational opportunities regardless of any disability or marginalized status. However, I disagree on the setting in which they should be educated. I will explain. As the only male teacher on my seventh grade team I am always given the homeroom/language arts class that mostly consists of students diagnosed with some form of learning disability (LD); be it EC, SED, OHI, or any other recognized disability. Is it because I have some elite power to teach these students that are placed in my room year after year? No, in fact I have only taken one special education class. Is it because I am a master at implementing modifications and lessons to reach all learners? No, though I like to think I’m decent after years of practice. So, what is the real reason? The answer is simple. While certainly not the case everywhere I hope, at the school I teach at I would estimate that 75% of the identified LD students are BEHAVIOR ISSUES.

The ‘LD’ students make up over half of my language arts class, and each comes back to me later in the day once again for social studies. The question for me is quite simply whether or not I am qualified to offer these students the same educational opportunities I believe they need and deserve? For some students with minor LD’s I feel I am capable, but for many I think I am doing that child a disservice. Additionally, as Florence points out in her book Multiculturalism 101, “some students cover up inadequacies by acting out…” (Florence, p.22, 2010) This raises my main point in having it mandated that all children, despite their learning disability, be included in the ‘regular education’ classroom. The distractions caused by these students choosing to act out, coupled with the multitude of modifications needed, completely monopolize the teacher’s time to the point that the students with no labeled disability are being cheated out of their education.

The fact is that we are all different. It seems to me that our educational system would be better off if we would recognize and accept those differences. If a student needs to be in a special education class all day with a teacher trained specifically for that purpose, why are we not allowing that to happen? If it is because we don’t want the student’s feelings hurt I just find that ridiculous. The education the student received from an educator trained to deal with their disability is going to be far greater than he or she would receive in a ‘regular education’ class setting. The unfairness of having that student(s) in the ‘regular education’ classroom also robs the other students from their education.

The current system from most angles is unfair to all students with disabilities. Were I a student with a disability, depending on the severity of it, I’m not even sure I would want to be in the ‘regular education’ class setting. The old saying that ‘children can be cruel’ is an understatement, particularly within the middle school in which so many students find comfort in their own changing adolescence by picking on others weaknesses. Students with disabilities recognize they are different, the other students know they have differences, and unfortunately I see students everyday made fun of because of those differences. Again, the distractions caused by the teasing in and out of the class setting distract all learners, disability or not. Why are students with disabilities being made to have their likely already low self esteem further destroyed? Particularly when it seems their educational needs could be better served by highly trained professionals along side other students that share similar learning disabilities. It has gotten to a point where I can’t decide if we are mainstreaming students with disabilities for societies benefit or theirs.

The rampant political correctness that oozes from our modern society says that it is necessary and right that all students are entitled to the same educational opportunities. As stated I completely agree with that line of thinking. The frustrating thing for educators is that the society and lawmakers who create the plethora of regulations and laws we are made to follow do not seem to be in our current educational reality. I think that if they were to spend any time within a classroom they would quickly realize that their want for complete equality for marginalized and disabled students has actually created a system that has become unfair and often harmful to the majority.

No comments:

Post a Comment