Anyone who characterizes special education students as non-speakers of English, handicapped or retarded needs to hit the textbooks. Again, I do not believe you understand what the term "special education" means. By the way, the new president of the United States, it has been reported, has a reading-learning disability. This would qualify him as a "special education student" today. This does not mean that GWB is "retarded" or "handicapped" or "less intelligent." Simply that he has a learning disability, as do millions of Americans.
Re: "Have the number of special ed kids increased sufficiently to explain the fall in the performance of the U.S. education system?"
I do not know that answer, nor do I know where you're coming from in this regard. However, I would speculate that there are more "special ed" kids today because diagnostic screening has improved, and more kids are getting help who didn't get help in years past. However, this help comes at a price. Teacher-student ratios are necessarily much lower in special ed classes than "regular" classes. Which is why many if not most private schools don't want anything to do with special ed kids. It's too costly.
Re: "Their (teachers') jobs were history if they lost this one."
Once again you show your ignorance. In case you haven't heard, there's a big teacher shortage in this country, especially in science, math, foreign languages. So who would be hired to replace all these teachers who would lose their jobs?
Get real and quit throwing out right-wing jibberish so liberally (pun intended). |
