"Does the Tea Party Care About Special Education?" (Care2.com)

[MichelleHeart]

A college professor and mother of a special needs child offers this response to Rand's spending cut proposal:
http://www.care2.com/causes/education/blog/does-the-tea-party-care-about-special-education/

The author of the article claims that special needs children wouldn't have an education without the DoED's IDEA program, though countless private schools (more than 2,500) serve children with physical/mental disorders and learning disabilities. 160,000 special-ed students are currently educated in private facilities.

It's simply a myth that private schools don't cater to students with certain physical, behavioral, mental, emotional, and cognitive impairments. Many public schools, in fact, rely on private providers for special-ed services.

In many countries, relying on private facilities to educate special needs students works amazingly well. According to the European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education, the most successful countries in the field of special-ed services for the physically impaired and learning disabled are, in fact, the ones that rely on multiple service providers.

Your thoughts?

 

[Kludge]

I would need more info on the costs & effects of special ed.

The way my public school district did it was totally unacceptable. Special ed. kids were put in a class of about 8 others who basically performed janitorial duties their entire education. There were also "hybrids" who would go to normal classes but had a dedicated staff follow them around everywhere, which must have cost the gov't at least $50k per kid annually doing it that way.

Do *I* care about special education? Not as much as normal education. I'd be more interested in raising standards for the people most likely to produce great things, not that others can't... I can say confidently that I would not donate to a school catering to special needs kids. However, I obviously would send my own kid to a private school which caters to kids with special needs were my kid a special needs kid. I would also donate to a family member if they were unable to afford the increased cost of sending their special needs kid to a school willing to cater. It's not as though special needs kids will just go uneducated if public education goes away. As there will still be demand for it, there will still be special needs programs, like the ones the article cites currently exist in private schools.

Edit: I guess the problem here is that the author is suggesting that if you don't want to spend others' money on special needs programs, you don't support special needs programs, which is ridiculous and irresponsible.

 

[torchbearer]

Does anybody care that money is taken from people by force to give to others?

 

[ammorris]

Special education is absurdly expensive precisely because the federal government is involved. The legal requirements for what districts have to provide for each special needs child are ridiculous. This is why you see stuff like a dedicated aid following each child around all day. (If a student can't function in a regular classroom without an individual assistant helping him, might not that student be better served in a more specialized environment in which the curriculum and delivery of content could be tailored to his needs?) It never seems to occur to those pushing for more federal rules that school districts might actually be able to serve their special needs students better if they were able to experiment with a variety of solutions and approaches, and tailor their policies to address the specific challenges that they and their students face.

 

[sailingaway]

Why should this be a federal issue?

 

[lx43]

Does anybody care that money is taken from people by force to give to others?

Amen, I do.

 

[t0rnado]

I don't want my money being spent on retarded kids who will never accomplish anything in their lives. It's the parent's responsibility to educate them not the government's and definitely not the taxpayers'.

 

[PermanentSleep]

Does anybody care that money is taken from people by force to give to others?

No one but us, it seems.

 

[BamaFanNKy]

One, t0rnado is a fucking asshole who's obviously never been around special education kids who've become productive members of society.

Two, the main problem with Special Education is not funds... it's the burden from a Federal mandate: http://www.education.ky.gov/KDE/Ins...Federal+Regulations+for+Special+Education.htm

Third, t0rnado's comments make him a douche bag.

 

[ammorris]

One, t0rnado is a fucking asshole who's obviously never been around special education kids who've become productive members of society.

Two, the main problem with Special Education is not funds... it's the burden from a Federal mandate: http://www.education.ky.gov/KDE/Ins...Federal+Regulations+for+Special+Education.htm

Third, t0rnado's comments make him a douche bag.

This post is 100% truth.