There has been an ongoing debate about whether or not to levy taxes to properly fund public schools. I already know of a few under-funded school districts who forced teachers to work double shifts, and many schools were not able to provide paper, pens, or pencils because no one paid enough taxes.

With that said, what is your opinion on special education that is funded by the state? Public schools are already having a hard enough time. Should people waste more time and money on people with irreconcilable disabilities, or do you believe that all people should have education, whether or not they make use of it?

Discuss amongst yourselves.

Yeah, I think that people with particularly high IQs and low IQs typically share the same funding. I'm probably wrong about that, but gifted classes definitely are considered "special education."

Why thank god for mediocrity? Gifted classes made school better for me.

I'm just saying that I'm glad I'm not a genius. You know how bad I would have it if I was in Special Ed because I was a prodigy? Real bad.

...

im sure it wasn't ment to be funny, but i laughed inside all the same. and no, i say more taxes!

We don't have gifted classes. Where's our money?

There's probably just less allocated. No gifted program = no gifted program money.

Double post <_<

I don't like retards eating my money.

I agree, but I'm not about to be persecuted for publicizing my opinion.

Our highschool was like some kind of magnet school for down's syndrome kids. Retarded kids from all over the county and even from 2 or 3 hours away would come to our school for special education. We'd all try our best to be sensitive and nice to them, but they were generally a nuisance and mostly everyone would at least joke around about them behind their backs.

Every morning I'd have to walk down the long hallway to gym. And it'd be full of garbage. Papers and plastic bottles. All kinds of shit strewn around the hallway. For the entire year, I'd be pissed because I'd have to wade through a pile of trash to get through the hallway. And the worst part was the janitors would always just be sitting around.

Then I found out the reason why there was garbage was they were training the retarded kids to be janitors. I didn't believe it at first, but then it was confirmed when the teacher took the recycling bin and just started emptying it into the hallway. And then the retarded kids were called.

Made me go WTF.

Here Kyro,

Read this.

You're a retard.

You won't be persecuted, at least not be me. I flew off the handle a bit when I FIRST read the topic, but I recognized that I did so and explained why.

I can be upset at a situation without condemning others for having a different opinion. Besides that, what people are saying here makes absolute sense, regardless of whether or not I believe it to be fair, or agree with the solution of not funding schooling for these individuals.

My son is not among the group I believe that is being targeted here. He is highly functional, regardless of the diagnosis [autism] he has been given. So for the challenged individuals that have a positive or workable prognosis, I do not think that funding should be taken away from their particular school programs. For the others, as sad as it is, I cannot disagree with the notion that perhaps funding should be used otherwise.

That made me cringe.

I thought we had to use tact when in a debate?

In my town we just passed 120 MILLION dollar school levee.
I would much rather this go to the alternative school, special ed classes, and music programs rather than more flat screen tv's in classrooms and bigger better gyms.

Personally I think a lot of school systems budget their money incorrectly. Seeing as they are part of the government that is to be expected.

Amen.
Kids do not need high tech shit in order to learn the things that everyone else in the past has had to learn.But then again America's education system is a joke along with numerous other things.

I think we can splurge on the ones who need more attention.

Exactly!
You said exactly what I wanted to say, but better.

I think that these programs are very useful. I happen to know a few "slow" kids who are embarrased because they are not as quick of a learner as their peers. I think that everybody should be allowed to learn at their own pace, and in the environment that suits them best. Putting a child who is not as gifted in a sense as another child, may be like putting an eighth grader in harvard. Some people just need more attention than others do, and I think that these programs are beneficial to all who are involved.

They should definitely fund special ed classes! The intellectually disabled deserve to have the same type of education as we do, and they simply can't keep up with the pace of normal classes because of their condition. If they stop funding special ed classes, then there would be no equality in the school systems. I think some people have lost touch on the intellectually disabled. The only ones who truly have sympathy are those who are family members of them, or they're just one of the select few who are mature.

If everyone is in accordance that those with disabilities that can still function or learn to function should be eligible for special education programs, then there's really no controversy. There are evaluation standards (that vary by programs/schools/districts) for enrollment in these programs. As such, they will probably limit or filter out who is eligible or who is not able to benefit from the program.

As for funding these programs, hell yes. In my humble opinion, it shouldn't matter who is "necessary" to society. If we begin to classify ourselves and designate certain rights to certain groups of people, it will be disastrous; where will it end? The right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness should not be unavaible to these people.

About "dependency" and causing problems to those around them, babies and the elderly may very well belong in these categories, shall parents not spend money on their babies and shall we cut off funding to programs that aid seniors?

Where will it stop? It doesn't.

That was what I was trying to elude to before, although not nearly as well as you have said outright here.

I can truly understand both sides of the argument, my problem is the idea or sentiment that certain individuals are inherently useless, without a hope.

My heart feels sad.

This is going to make me sound like an a-hole, but in my personal world I would make it so the mentally retarded (below a certain level which we would have to establish) would be mercifully killed at birth in order to save them from a horrible existence as well as saving the parents from a life of misery. These may sound like strong words but no person wants a retarded child. Retardation from birth should be seen as a still-birth because the child shouldn't have to live anyways. I've known many retarded children, many of whom didn't live long anyways, and not once did I see the sparkle of humanity that movies and lifetime dramas have made us believe exists. All I've seen is a frustrated individual without the necessary means to understand that frustration and a parent whose soul has been torn because all their energy has been put into a person who they can never truly understand or relate to.
Aside from the psychological problems, there are many retarded people with physical deformities which they cannot adjust to and which create a fear in normal people (lets stop beating around the bush, retarded people with deformities and birth defects are scary). Im sure that 1 out of the 3 people who've actually read this will become selfrighteous and most likely bring up some sob story about their retarded brother and how he has accomplished so much, yet that brother probably wouldnt be able to recite the same tale of heroism. I dont know, it sucks but we shouldnt have to put these people through the pain and torment of a life they can never really live.

I see these types of programs extremely helpful but that's not the basic idea behind the programs. In my opinion, these programs were made to separate the mentally and physically challenged people from the "normal" people of society, if you catch my drift.