This bothers me greatly. First, there are many degrees as to what is considered a"special education student. You have those student that are obviously mentally handicapped, but then there are also students that are only slightly handicapped or "slow" and then there are those that are put into those programs due to a misdiagnosis (due to learning disabilities such as dsylexia or to discipline problems).
Also, in my area, it was reported this year that black males were 3 times more likely to be put into special education programs than any other ethnicity. The racial makeup of my community is probably similiar to that of Olympia.
Not every student in special education is only capable of being janitors and sorting trash.
Before automatically putting kids in menial work, they should evaluate each student's ability and put them in an appropriate job.
On a personal note, earlier on in my nephews schooling, he was put into a special education program. It it hadn't been for his mom, me, and the rest of our family working with him and challenging the school, they would have written him off as such and left it at that. It wasn't that we were ashamed of him being in special education, it was the fact that we knew he was capable of so much more.
After years of working with him (he had a learning disability and required specialized attention), he is now a "mainstreamed" (no linger in special education classes) high school student, making A's and B's in regualr classes, and works as a sign language interpretor for my church's deaf ministry. He functions just as normal as the next 15 year old - with aspirations to go to college.
Hybrid Mode
