Same Education for all

Edwin Gutierrez

 

English 102

 

Dr. Parker

 

10/20/14

 

Many kids in schools need a lot of attention in many areas. Some student lack in certain subjects and others do very well and are able to pass their classes without a problem. Then there are the children that have disabilities who require a lot more help. A lot of the time, special need children are the sweetest kids to be around and despite how much attention they need, one is always happy to help them, but there are some people who don't really care much about them and leave them behind in education because they think that the special need student(s) won't achieve much. Within education, everyone deserves to be educated and respected. Teachers have to care about their students are their education. If not us, who will help them succeed?

            In the article, "Complaint sparks federal probe of special ed discrimination in San Ramon schools", by Ashly McGlone, wrote about how the  Los Cerros Middle School discriminated against a 12 year old autistic boy. Parents Adam and Judy Wang said that "their 12-year-old autistic son with verbal apraxia and other special needs students are 'being deprived equal access to education and a fair opportunity to learn and function in the community,' compared with non-disabled peers." (Mcglone, 2). Not being able to attend field trips or to learn the same things as other students who aren't mentally disabled is absurd and shouldn't happen.  It's understandable that it does take time and patients to teach disabled kids, but just because they have a disability doesn't mean that the student isn't smart enough to do the work. In another article, "What Genius and Autism Have in Common" by Maia Szalavitz wrote about autistic kids and their talents.

Having achieved acclaim and professional status in their fields by the ripe age of 10. Most are musical prodigies; one is an artist and another a math whiz, who developed a new discipline in mathematics and, by age 13, had had a paper accepted for publication in a mathematics journal. Two of the youngsters showed extraordinary skill in two separate fields: one child in music and art (his work now hangs in prestigious galleries the world over), and the other in music and molecular gastronomy (the science behind food preparation — why mayonnaise becomes firm or why a soufflé swells, for example). He became interested in food at age 10 and, by 11, had carried out his first catering event. All of the prodigies had stories of remarkable early abilities: one infant began speaking at 3 months old and was reading by age 1; two others were reading at age 2. The gastronomist was programming computers at 3. Several children could reproduce complex pieces of music after hearing them just once, at the age most kids are finishing preschool. Many had toured internationally or played Lincoln Center or Carnegie Hall well before age 10 (Szalavitz, 3-4).

Being disabled doesn’t stop a kid from doing well, it’s the teachers and sometimes even the parents who don’t care about them or their education. Like in the article, the kids have overachieved and have done things that a lot of us can’t do without learning and to learn what they have learned early on would take some of us months or years to learn.

Szalavitz, Maia, and Maia Szalavitz. "What Genius and Autism Have in Common | TIME.com." Time. Time, 10 July 2012. Web. 20 Oct. 2014.

 

 Mcglone, Ashly. "Complaint Sparks Federal Probe of Special Ed Discrimination in San Ramon Schools." ContraCostaTimes.com. Contra Costa Times, 02 Oct. 2013. Web. 21 Oct. 2014.

 

Skiba, Russell J., et al. "Achieving Equity In Special Education: History, Status, And Current Challenges." Exceptional Children 74.3 (2008): 264-288. Academic Search Premier. Web. 21 Oct. 2014.