Originally posted by Scuddie
I wonder if there is a less-than-worthless special needs schooling system in the US. Here in CA, if you are in special ed, you are not given an education at all. Their logic is, "If they have a hard time learning, it must be best to take it slow." Problem is, most kids aren't even challenged at all. They spend a whole many years being taught the same thing... Fundamentals, nothing more.
My sister is in the 9th grade, all she knows are multiplication tables. She doesn't mind, because school is more of a playground to her, and she doesn't have any obligation to do anything in her classes. Do you know how "disabled" she is? She hasn't seen anything more than common division in her school, yet I was able to teach her linear variable substitution in less than 15 minutes! Her main problem though is that it takes her too long to do homework, so the special ed program decided to give her homework that takes her all of five minutes. And at this rate, looks like she is not eligible for graduation.
To compare, the nothing-special private school I enrolled in taught me the 38 personal pronouns in my first week, while my sister wasn't even told what a pronoun is. This leads me to believe that most public school teachers just don't care. I only wish this little private school didn't shut down, else we would have enrolled my sister in it a long time ago.
Wow, I am shocked. That's really disturbing. That doesn't sound like the liberal California I know. I know Jersey has one of the best education systems for special ed. There wasn't another private school nearby? You live in Sacramento. There had to be more than one.
Originally posted by Ace
The problem is though that very few private schools are equipped to handle such students in most of the US.
...and homeschooling doesn't work. Unless both parents have tons of time to spend with their child and have an education *higher* than a bachelor's degree. The only success stories I've seen are generally from scientists doing field work and raising their child, not ma and pa kettle teaching their son or daughter to shelter them from the evil world.
The best thing to do for most gifted or disabled children are extra-scholastic activities. For gifted students programs like running start, so that the person is going to college and having classes that challenge them as soon as possible, are also the best possible things to do.
There are also many that can't afford private schooling.
I'm not advocating homeschooling. However, there has to be a better way to educate than the current public education system. [conspiracy]It's based on the Prussian system, which prepares you for military service, teaches you to take orders, and not to question.[/conspiracy]
I met a girl while I was in California. She was very pretty. She told me she had been home schooled, but the way she explained it made it sound like she saw a teacher regularly that gave her work, as opposed to being taught by her parents. The freedom allowed her to do other things, such as travel to other countries. She seemed very smart and quite mature for her age. Too bad she disappeared shortly after we met. u_u
Like you said though, most are not qualifed to be teaching their own kids. *Shudders at the thought of the masses being preached religion* Anyway, there has to be a mean. Neither extreme is good.
In my state, special ed/alternative schools are at least an option. I guess not everyone is as fortunate. There's a famous school at Princeton, but my brother didn't get into it. The wait period is forever because of the high demand, but he's in a good school. He'll attend until he's 21. They also teach him a job for the future.
Originally posted by Kosh
I was for sure diagnosed correctly. I was told that I have a mild case of it (or something like that).
I figured, if you had any more than a mild case you wouldn't be on this board. Yours is a case where mainstreaming worked.
