You've hit upon the key issue: discipline. In today's schools, there is none. Students cannot be suspended or expelled, and many cases can no longer even be sent to the principal. How can teachers manage to teach those students who do want to learn when out-of-control students are creating chaos in their classrooms without any consequences?
You've hit upon the key issue: discipline. In today's schools, there is none. Students cannot be suspended or expelled, and many cases can no longer even be sent to the principal. How can teachers manage to teach those students who do want to learn when out-of-control students are creating chaos in their classrooms without any consequences?
I can tell you that one rotten apple really does spoil the whole bunch! Special Ed teachers keep wanting to mainstream kids who don't belong in gen ed classrooms. So does the government--because special ed is so expensive. It's not good for anyone.
Agree and disagree. There are children who need the resources available from special ed and can be rotated into many main stream classrooms without disruption. But too often special ed has been extended from students with learning disabilities to students with severe behavior problems due to mental illness.
Special ed teachers train to provide a sheltered and welcoming classroom where students can learn and learn to cope with their disability. Most special ed teacher do not have the tools, training, or the resources for a student who has violent outburst that result in another student or staff member being assaulted. No child able or struggling to learn needs the additional burden of being in a classroom where they can be assaulted.
The elementary school our oldest son (who had an IEP due to his ADHD) attended in Kansas was the best ever for dealing with special ed. Kids went to and from the main classroom all day, depending on what they needed extra help (or TAG units) with, so there was no stigma for any of the students; it was treated as a completely normal thing.
Compare that to the middle school he attended in Iowa (a state that is hugely proud of its "educational excellence"): only ONE special ed class for ALL special ed students (with ONE teacher!), regardless of their needs. Presumably his IEP was sent along with his school records, but the school pretended they knew nothing about it. So he started off in regular classes (with a rotating subject schedule that was massively confusing for him), and then got plopped in a classroom with mentally retarded kids, despite having high normal intelligence.
When I pulled him out in mid October to homeschool him, his special ed teacher said, "I'm not supposed to tell you this, but I think you're doing the right thing. This classroom has nothing to offer him."
You've hit upon the key issue: discipline. In today's schools, there is none. Students cannot be suspended or expelled, and many cases can no longer even be sent to the principal. How can teachers manage to teach those students who do want to learn when out-of-control students are creating chaos in their classrooms without any consequences?
I can tell you that one rotten apple really does spoil the whole bunch! Special Ed teachers keep wanting to mainstream kids who don't belong in gen ed classrooms. So does the government--because special ed is so expensive. It's not good for anyone.
Agree and disagree. There are children who need the resources available from special ed and can be rotated into many main stream classrooms without disruption. But too often special ed has been extended from students with learning disabilities to students with severe behavior problems due to mental illness.
Special ed teachers train to provide a sheltered and welcoming classroom where students can learn and learn to cope with their disability. Most special ed teacher do not have the tools, training, or the resources for a student who has violent outburst that result in another student or staff member being assaulted. No child able or struggling to learn needs the additional burden of being in a classroom where they can be assaulted.
The elementary school our oldest son (who had an IEP due to his ADHD) attended in Kansas was the best ever for dealing with special ed. Kids went to and from the main classroom all day, depending on what they needed extra help (or TAG units) with, so there was no stigma for any of the students; it was treated as a completely normal thing.
Compare that to the middle school he attended in Iowa (a state that is hugely proud of its "educational excellence"): only ONE special ed class for ALL special ed students (with ONE teacher!), regardless of their needs. Presumably his IEP was sent along with his school records, but the school pretended they knew nothing about it. So he started off in regular classes (with a rotating subject schedule that was massively confusing for him), and then got plopped in a classroom with mentally retarded kids, despite having high normal intelligence.
When I pulled him out in mid October to homeschool him, his special ed teacher said, "I'm not supposed to tell you this, but I think you're doing the right thing. This classroom has nothing to offer him."