I have a serious question?

Question

I am so unclear on how kids with limited abilities can still graduate from school and go to college. How far up the ladder can these kids go with nothing more than a 6th grade equivelant at best? Perhaps I sound critical but let's be honest! A high school diploma? We give them a diploma for what?

Maybe I've been in the service too long but it sounds to me like there is a "pity" party to be played for the disabled. Why not make them president?

Answer 1

what do you mean limited abilities, mental? Physical? Classes are "adjusted"to fit these kids and help teach them. Most kids with low IQs can be taught a skill, folding sheets in a hotel, rolling silverware in a resturant. sweeping hte floor at a hair salon or retail shop. These skills are learned in school. Certain HS have EXCELLENT Special Ed classes. They teach social skills as well. I know a little boy who would spit on you if he didn't like you. Now, he knows that it is wrong. He knows how to shake hands. These kids are beyond excited when they get their diploma, they don't have much to look forward to. This gives them home. It shows them that they are capable of obtaining something. We can help them learn to be contirbuting members of society.

Answer 2

Most of today's special education is the result of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Being in the service, you probably know this act was mostly the work of disabled veteran Bob Dole. The idea is that students who are disabled (mentally or physically) are entitled to the same education as all other students. There are many students covered by the special education umbrella who are fully capable of completing the same rigorous, academic classes that other students take. I teach math (to all students), and I recently had a student who received resource assistance who got an "A" in my most advanced course. This student is now in college (where he also receives resource help, again required by law) and doing great there. Other special education students are not capable of completing the mainstream curriculum (which is one of the main faults teachers find with the "No Child Left Behind" act, which assumes everyone can achieve at the same level). These students almost never end up in college, but they are entitled to something for the effort they've put forth.

It's the transcript, not the diploma, that is really the meaningful document for showing what any student has done. Even among mainstream students, there are some who are in honors classes and others who take "easy" courses. They each have the same diploma, but the transcript will sort out who's who.

Answer 3

Students with limited abilities can and should graduate from High School. This is federally mandated. They are allowed to stay in High School until they graduate or are 21. They graduate with an Individual Education Plan and that is stated on their transcript. The acronym IEP means that the student met the adapted course outcomes designed for them. Colleges do have some adapted classes but again the transcripts clearly state it. Employers need to ask for and READ the transcripts. Most newspapers are written on the sixth grade level. Most students who function on the sixth grade level will not get jobs that are more than what they can handle whether they graduated from a special program or were just lazy in school.

Answer 4

There are different kinds of high school diplomas. There are the general ed diplomas (which is what you get these days for completing the college prep classes) then there are principal's diplomas, for those with limited abilities or who they just want to get out of school. There are also certificates of completion, which aren't really diplomas, but serve a similar purpose as the principal's diploma.

Answer 5

For working very hard to achieve what they do achieve. Things don't come to challenged people easy, therefore they have to work ten times harder. People have different abilities. People with limited abilities are stronger in some than say you or I.