> Kosnoff responds: When poverty, disability or even exceptional > aptitude & intelligence are part of the complex package that a > child presents in the classroom, we cannot educate that child to > his/her maximum potential without addressing the needs that impact that > child's ability to learn. Every child should have an individual > education plan that addresses the range of needs, academic & > otherwise, that affect his school success. Schools can't by > themselves meet every need; but they should be the place where the > resources of the community and the family are integrated and > coordinated to plan for each child's needs. Your belief that > those who are a little different or need a little more should be > segregated is abundantly clear. I just don't agree. >
What I read from your response, however, at least in part is that all children should be forced into the mainstream. I am one of those children that would have thrived on segregation - allowed to develop my intellectual capacities without fear or my own classmates and relieved of the torment of phy-ed, the only place in my school where competition was allowable social behavior. I have a friend who WAS placed in an accelerated academic program in her school and her parents, along with others, were instructed NOT to tell her she was in an advanced program because it would cause her problems with the other kids. I've known dozens of other people in the same situation. Many of them don't manage to thrive as I have. You know those nasty evil hackers we hear so much about? Why do you think these guys end up hacking? It's because they are bored and never faced an intellectual challenge, thus they never learned to deal with a real challenge and end up depressed and lost. I have no idea if this federal program has helped others with different kinds of disabilities, but the cattle-ization of our school system has harmed many, many more of my friends than it really served. _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
