<p>I don’t think I’m enough in the know to discuss the type of education received by special ed. kids, but speaking in the normal kids verse gifted kids I don’t believe that either group should receive more funding than the other, unless of course that the normal kids had 100 kids and the gifted had 20 kids. Gifted kids don’t need more money to have their brains exercised and enhanced.</p>
<p>Speaking on a point you said earlier, wink, I never thought of the idea that human beings are most likely predisposed to government due to its nature of forming groups and kinship alliances. It’s a very good point. It would seem that we are stuck with government until we evolve to the next level as a race.</p>
<p>I guess the real question of the debate is, “How much help should the mentally handicapped receive?”</p>
<p>Does anyone know if education has a real affect on them? I wasn’t being modest when I said I didn’t know much about this subject. Does a mentally disabled person have the same ability as other children to learn?</p>
<p>This topic has come up a lot in the area where I live, especially since we have been met with funding cuts (again). I would argue that gifted students and special ed students should receive the same amount of funding: both involve vast deviations from the mean in terms of IQ, and often face similar social limitations. Highly gifted students are just as “abnormal” (for lack of a better term) as severely ■■■■■■■■ students and (in my biased opinion) need just as much time and energy devoted to them to develop and learn.</p>
<p>In my school, the gifted program was actually part of the special ed. department, yet we received a fraction of the funding compared to autistic, learning disabled, hearing impaired, and ESL classes. The result was that many were under-motivated to learn and some flunked out, despite being brilliant students. Of course, “normal” kids are often equally neglected. Our School Board has been having a lot of debate over this one, (like how much is it worth spending to attempt to educate a severely ■■■■■■■■ student?) and is an issue of great controversy where I live…</p>
<p>Hudson - it depends. For certain mental disorders, such as autism, special education has proven very helpful. However, in cases of childhood shizophrenia, severe retardation ~50 IQ or lower, etc. there is generally little hope.</p>
<p>So, how much time/energy should be devoted to teaching the “unteachable” (I put that in quotes for a reason)?</p>
<p>Just as a note, highly gifted students are often equally prone to mental disorder as ■■■■■■■■ or otherwise handicapped students, and also need specialized learning techniques to make their education/growth effective.</p>
<p>Damn these questions without answers! Altogether though, many schools waste money. I mean, does the entire library really need a new set of computers every seven or so year? My library has two topline apple computers that the students aren’t allowed to use, but the librarians do. My question is, “what are two librarians doing that requires a machine that is used by architects, astrophysicists, and doctors use?” Also, why does a high school library require two people to be run?</p>
<p>to say they have the best technology. and my school’s gifted thing was part of the special ed funding. how much we saw i’ll never know. but yes wink makes a point with the "it depends on the “deficiency” (i honestly dont mean to offend i just couldnt think of the right word). but i would not go as far as saying a the kid with the 140 IQ is facing the same walls as the kid who is severly autistic and mildly deaf.</p>
<p>Wow. Your school must be much wealthier than mine. Then again, with so many students, we have at least like 12 full-class computer labs, plus several more for the actual computer classes…and we have three libraries, so our library staff must total around 10-15 people.</p>
<p>gosh darn wink that is breathtaking. my school is like 1/3 your school’s size i think (student wise) so i guess that is why. i assume you got to a private school.</p>
<p>Haha. No, no private school; the school just never throws out the old computers, so they accumulate and they just stick them in lab rooms. The school is called PCEP (Plymouth-Canton Educational Park). You can look it up on wikipedia; I think it has an article.</p>
<p>ooo it was an education /park/ niice. my school had something going on like that in the 60’s it was /experimental/. you know /those/ kids were “special”
lol.</p>
<p>and arent you the one with a school with like 6k kids. that is huge. especially for a out of big city school. or am i just that sheltered??</p>
<p>Man this debate is putting me into a bad mood, which is really clashing with the song I’m listening to(Paper Planes by M.I.A. for all that are interested).</p>
<p>So, how much time/energy should be devoted to teaching the “unteachable”?
Hmm, that’s a toughie. Really, it goes to the root of the question of whether or not it’s in everyone’s interest that the mentally handicapped are born, which is an unanswerable question. It sounds cruel, but what type of life do these people led? Addressing this question would undoubtedly lead people to realize that life isn’t sacred and can be thrown away as easy as it is given.</p>
<p>m.i.a. seems so off beat ( in a good way) im scared to listen to her music.
tough question again. but they you have to define “unteachable” and some of them lead decent lives.</p>
<p>The human race has devoted itself to protecting and caring for the physically and mentally disabled (as well as those genetically prone to disease). Not to cound cruel, but normally natural selection would eliminate some of these people and their genes. But in this modern age, humans have taken it upon themselves to undermine science in favor of compassion. If you want to continue along a more extreme line of reasoning and extrapolate beyond education, consider the Terri Schiavo incident that seemed to stir such controversy…</p>
<p>panic - yeah, I pass it (the radio station) every day on my way to class; there is this glass wall where you can look into the station and there’s all this equipment and sometimes on-air interviews going on and stuff.</p>
<p>We do have over 6000 kids now, I’m pretty sure. It’s funny how it’s bigger than many /college/ campuses. At times it seems too big and impersonal, and at other times, the anonymity is refreshing and makes me feel a bit more open.</p>
<p>My “home” school is Plymouth, by the way (not that you would care :))</p>
<p>ok terri schiavo deserved to die.( i realize that sound evil, but i mean it in a humane way). she was on a feeding tube accumulating bedsores. she was less of the person she was before, defined medically brain dead, there was nothing they could have done to allow her to live a normal life.</p>
<p>but on the same ticket if i have a kid with asbergers, i’ll keep em. will i have another probably not, but i will love my kid.</p>
<p>But there are two ways that I see the future going. We continue on our path of “compassion” until the point that we regard all human life as precious, witch would lead to overpopulation, or we realize the fragility of life and start human eugenics, which I’m afraid would make us entirely focused on “advancement.” I realize that this is alotta assuming, but it seems from my view what is bound to happen.</p>
<p>Either way, it sounds like some prophesizing sci-fi film come to life. Unless human stupidity and environmental degradation results in drastic decreases in population, we are definitely going to face problems with overpopulation. How should we address that?</p>
<p>my home school is the sub par place where kids are known to be beat or cut. i dont go there, never will.
i go to (ima bust out the full name on you): the nova center aka The Nova Center for Applied Research and Development. they have two elementary schools, a middle school, a high school. and if you really want to be home-y a university.</p>