Special Ed students used as janitors :-( [Archive]

Zens_7s

10-10-2003, 02:09 PM

I read that on Fark this morning.

It reminds me of my high school in the other direction. They decided to integrate the special ed with the regular gym classes. What happened was pretty sad. Someone got physcially injured every class and it was never intentional. Then they decided to integrate them into regular classes, that was an even bigger disaster.

JIM

10-10-2003, 02:17 PM

They tried the same thing in my old H.S. gym classes.
Some got hurt, some were absolutely awesome on the court!
Work experience programs can be a good thing, but their way was just wrong... I feel bad for those kids. /forums/images/icons/frown.gif

ILovePapaSmurf

10-10-2003, 03:35 PM

<blockquote>In reply to:<hr />
School officials said many special education students will do janitorial work after high school, so they believe the tasks are appropriate.

[/ QUOTE ]

So, schools are basically saying that special Ed students wont adapt to anything, but school janitorial duties. What a load of shit.

jjcourtright

10-10-2003, 04:38 PM

That's how it was at my high school.

The special-ed kids would come to each room and take the recyclables and trash. They helped clean up the cafeteria after lunches....I don't want to sound like a dick, but I just assumed that was the way that it was everywhere.

ILovePapaSmurf

10-10-2003, 04:48 PM

I do not think that people want to take the time to get to know special education students, so they never get the exact idea of how smart they really are.

I volunteered for the special olympics with AETNA and I spent the whole day with participants. They are the most caring people you could meet and they have so many goals they want to do. It is just really sad that schools are making them do stuff because THEY think it is the only job they will be able to do. It is just sick.

karmattack

10-10-2003, 05:00 PM

<blockquote>In reply to:<hr />
It reminds me of my high school in the other direction. They decided to integrate the special ed with the regular gym classes. What happened was pretty sad. Someone got physcially injured every class and it was never intentional.

[/ QUOTE ]
That reminds me of a time in gym class when one of the bully kids in class was repeatedly pass/hitting one of the lesser developed kids with a basketball - making fun of him because he couldn't catch it. After I told him to stop and he laughed, I caught a rebound off the kid, took a nice crow hop, wound hard and blasted the guy in the face with the basketball from about four feet away. I don't usually condone violence, but I don't take crap from bullies and that felt oh-so-nice!

Matt1

10-10-2003, 05:07 PM

One of the things that struck me was the other kids making fun of the retarded kids. Maybe Ijust came from a really nice school or something, but if you made fun of a retarded kid it was very likely you could get your ass kicked.

jjcourtright

10-10-2003, 05:10 PM

<blockquote>In reply to:<hr />
It reminds me of my high school in the other direction. They decided to integrate the special ed with the regular gym classes. What happened was pretty sad. Someone got physcially injured every class and it was never intentional.

[/ QUOTE ] That just sparked a memory in me too. One time when I was about 10 I went to a BBQ with my parents. The people who were having the Q had a volleyball net set up, and two sons with muscular dystrophy. Of of their sons was in his wheelchair on one side of the net, and I was playing with the volleyball on the other side of the net. Being only 10, my volleyball skills were not as honed as they later became. I was just planning on bumping the ball to myself, but for some reason the gravitation field created by this kids wheelchair was immense. No matter what, I kept hitting the kid in the head. I have never felt so bad in all of my life.

Droogan_Leader

10-10-2003, 05:53 PM

I'm a substitute teacher, and I've subbed for Special Ed before, and I think the biggest problem isn't with the students--because it doesn't take much to end up in Special Ed these days--but with the schools. The other day I was substituting, and the TA was smiling really big and talking to the students like they were babies, or small animals, in a very condescending way. It bothered me, and they told me how it bothered them after she left. One girl said, "She thinks we're all retards."

Some of the students were less developed, but they weren't stupid, or useless, and they don't need to be babied. I think, at least some of the time, mixing them in with all the other students is good, because as I said, there's not always a multitude of learning obstacles for them to overcome--maybe a reading problem, or a speech impairment. But, no reason to exclude them from regular normal social interaction.

This mess about trash collecting and searching for recyclable goods is horrible though. The administration in that school division ought to be drawn and quartered, and that's probably pretty close to what is happening to them right now.

jjcourtright

10-10-2003, 05:56 PM

I'm from Canada. They think I'm slow, eh.

Seriously though, a friend of mine was a substitute teacher, and one time he had to sub for a special-ed class. Before he went in, they told him how to treat each of the kids. They got to one of the girls and told him to just not go near her. No explanation, just to not go near her. Weird.

10-10-2003, 06:31 PM

I've had limited experience with special-ed kids, but what little interaction I've had with 'em, I talked to 'em like they were equals. And you know, you could see it in their faces, how good it made them feel to be talked to and treated like a normal person. It gave them some dignity.

hotlips_hooligan

10-10-2003, 07:17 PM

I am a special needs teacher in GA. I work with Autistic kids and I also work heavily with inclusion. These kids, when given the proper support and guidence can and do succeed in a regular ed setting! They also have the ability to do GREAT things when they GRADUATE! Yes I said graduate. There is a 13 year old Autistic Author who has 2 books published. There are many many success stories like this but I don't have the time or space to put it in this post but I want you to know that these kids are capable of accomplishing anything with the proper support. But thanks to BUSH and his wonderful NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT he will make it impossible for these students to succeed in the future! Oh and not to mention the 870 Billion dollars that he is sending to rebuild a country that we destroyed (money that is really needed in the public school system!).... grrrrr don't get me started! sorry to ramble I'll go back to my corner now lol /forums/images/icons/crazy.gif

DangerSeeker

10-11-2003, 04:49 AM

I did volunteer work at the local school for the blind, which was reall blind plus other ailments, and worked the phys ed dept. We had a basketball court, a bowling alley, etc. Some people might laugh at a bowling alley at a school for the blind, but you take some poor kid who just took part in some sport they know they can never be proficient in, raise their hand, and tap nine fingers on their shoulder...

The smile they give will make you want to do anything to help somebody work through whatever they need.

Too many people want to give up on the less fortunate. This guy doesn't have the education. That gal don't have the mechanical skills. It's the unspoken prejudice. It's the safe one. If somebody is less knowledgable than you, for whatever reason, they are beneath you. Screw that.

I'm a college drop-out smarter than many college graduates I know. I know high school drop-outs smarter than me. I have known "retarded" people who can get more out of simple joys in life than I ever could. Is that a disability? For them or for me?

Sorry for the rant.

Razorback

10-11-2003, 05:30 AM

This article and some of the reactions to it are a shame. Many of the special education students end up in this line of work because it is not complex and it keeps them employed.

A very good friend of mine was a special ed student and he worked as a janitor until he was 27 years old. That work actually paid him better than what he does now and he has often tried to get back into that line of work (though he is in college now and trying to better his situation, but due to his disability he can only take one or two classes per semester so it is a very long process).

People are making too much of this... I guess special ed kids can now go look for work pushing carts at a local supermarket making minimum wage.

RB

psychofiend

10-11-2003, 09:09 AM

I have a friend who took a picture of every "tard" in our school and they all seemed happy to do the work.

hotlips_hooligan

10-11-2003, 10:37 AM

You know your comment and lack of intelligent language shows that maybe you might have been able to benefit from a couple of "extra help classes" yourself! I find it rude and incomprehensible to refer to these (most of the time more intelligent than reg. ed) special needs students, as "tards". I will refer you to the old saying that if you don't have anything nice to say then try not to OPEN YOU MOUTH! Thank you and have a nice day! /forums/images/icons/mad.gif

Jack_Sparrow

10-11-2003, 10:40 AM

"tards" thats very pleasant !! you are obviously oblivious to peoples feelings or sensitivities the word "neanderthal" would describe you very well !!!

Droogan_Leader

10-11-2003, 02:04 PM

As you know, Razorback, absolute statements are almost always flawed. And, to say it is overkill, the big deal that's being made of it, well, maybe CNN did play it up. But, like I said, a lot of Spec. Ed kids are NOT so retarded that they are incapable of getting better jobs than janitorial work. What this means for those students who are maybe just deficient in reading skills, say for example, is that they are stuck cleaning up the trash and tables along with their less fortunate Special Ed peers. And, that is an outrage. And, the school system has failed those kids.

For the others, maybe less so. But for otherwise very intelligent kids to be stuck cleaning up everybodys' recycling and trash, that's whack.

Razorback

10-11-2003, 05:27 PM

Did CNN at any time qualify the level of "specialness" of these kids? Nope. So anything said about them is conjecture. I am only pointing out that a lot of these kids are given a means of becoming self-sufficient by this type of work.

RB

Droogan_Leader

10-11-2003, 06:00 PM

Point taken, RB. But, it is implied that at least some of these kids were capable of obtaining and holding more complex and demanding jobs:

<blockquote>In reply to:<hr />
Finders said when he told his son that he wanted the trash collection to stop, his son was upset because teachers had told him the janitors at school needed his help. Since then, his son has worked at an auto-parts store and a clothing store as part of the program.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sounds to me like they were being nudged in that direction with the janitors coming to them saying, "You gonna help me out after school, buddy?" I can see in my mind how that probably played out.

Razorback

10-11-2003, 06:08 PM

I just get the impression that the writer is feeding us only a part of the story... but hey, I distrust everyone!!!!

RB

Droogan_Leader

10-11-2003, 06:28 PM

I have a sneaking suspicion that your distrust is well-founded RB. That we can definitely agree on. That's why I love CNN--you only get one half of any given story. That's also why I watch Fox now, and occasionally MSNBC, when Scarborough Country is on /forums/images/icons/wink.gif

ratm1966

10-11-2003, 06:30 PM

I would rather watch Fox News than the Communist News Network (CNN).

Matt1

10-11-2003, 07:10 PM

The Tard Blog (http://tardblog.com/)

psychofiend

10-12-2003, 11:20 AM

I think hotlip's opinion on that was about as welcomed as a menstral flow considering I made no derogatory comments to the "special" kids.

Jack_Sparrow

10-12-2003, 11:29 AM

<blockquote>In reply to:<hr />
I have a friend who took a picture of every "tard" in our school and they all seemed happy to do the work.

The fact that you refer to them as Tards shows the level of respect with which you treat people! and if you don't welcome opinions why post on a forum? I for one welcome her views as she certanly appears to have a more sound base for her opinion! Rather than your "friend" photographing "them" at work like they were chimps at the zoo

Ever heard of Mr S Hawkin he has disabilities but look what he has accomplished