It's interesting to me that my post was interpreted almost universally as being about race. It was not. I was speaking to Thomas Swift's idea that we should create separate facilities for special needs students. These kids come in all shapes, colors, and sizes. Some are ESL students. Some are kids with serious learning disabilities and developmental disabilities. Some are simply unmotivated by the methodologies of public education as it currently stands.
I agree with Mr. Swift that special needs kids "require services that the general population does not." But are those services best delivered in separate facilities? I think they are not. Perhaps "efficiency" is not the only measure of school quality. And I find it extremely hard to understand why competition is the whole point. I find cooperation between representatives of higher and lower-level learners to be more constructive than competition, especially when the two groups are divided by facility. It was not competition between schools I was talking about, it was competition between parents, who are also voters. I suppose our vision of human nature is somewhat different; when I see the opportunity for those with economic advantages and greater political access to push school policy beneficial to their children at the expense of poorer, lower-level kids, I'm afraid it might happen. Perhaps this sort of competition is not healthy. Perhaps we need to look to a different model than corporate business methodologies. In my opinion, the purpose of the public school system, which is to give equal access to a quality education to all young members of our society, is at odds with this school-as-business model. Maybe Neutron Jack is not the right guy to be giving presentations to our public school administrators. In response to Mr. Atherton. I think what Mr. Mann meant by his snipish clich� was this: of course no one I suggesting we separate special needs students to their disadvantage. My point was that the end result of separate facilities could be to disadvantage these students, whatever the intent of the original idea. If we embark on a policy like this, we should do so with the greatest caution. And my basic position is that I don't see enough reason to take such a risk. I agree wholeheartedly that a dyslexic student might be better served in a separate class. But-and this is for Mr. Swift, because Mr. Atherton seems to agree with me on this point-why a separate school? Especially if efficiency is our main goal; what would be the costs of building these new facilities and busing special needs students to these schools from the whole of the city? That was it. A couple notes for future reference: I am not a lady, Marcy Holmes is the neighborhood I live in, and I am not acting in any capacity as a spokesman for my employer, and I'd appreciate it if everyone could leave them out of future discussions. Robin Garwood Marcy Holmes _______________________________________ 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
