Should My Wordless Kid Go to School with Your Normal Child?
I guess I’ve been very lucky as the parent of a special needs child never to have encountered people at my son’s school that are like some of the people who have commented on this post.
Of course schools should educate special needs kids. Isn’t this obvious? It isn’t socialism to expect this, any more than it’s socialism to expect the police to provide equal protection to all citizens, even if some of those citizens live in a high-crime neighborhoods and require more than their share of police protection. If you have public schools, then the schools are there to educate children. The idea that we have public schools but they’re only available to certain children is, let’s face it, disgusting. Yes, some children cost the schools more than other children, just like some people cost the police department, or the fire department, or the department of sanitation, more than other people. And people without children still pay property taxes to support public schools, because we as a society have decided that public schools benefit society as a whole. If schools don’t have enough money to provide services to all their students, then the schools need more government support or alternative sources of funding. But the answer isn’t to deny education to certain students because of the expenses involved.
I have my own concerns about mainstreaming. It’s not the answer for every special needs child and concerns about which setting is the most appropriate for which child should be dealt with on an idividual basis. But anyone who thinks IEP’s are an opportunity for parents of special needs chidren to get whatever they want from the school district is living in an alternate universe.
And by the way, not every wealthy parent games the system for millions. At my son’s first school, my wife and I funded a playground because there was no place appropriate for the special needs children to play. And guess what? The whole school got to use it, not just the special needs kids. Every year of my son’s education, we’ve purchased supplemental materials for the classroom, paid for field trips, and helped the school financially in whatever way we could. I know many many parents of means with special needs children who have also helped out their schools or have helped fund outside programs, and I’ve never heard a single one complain that other children benefited from their generosity.
