Special Education/Programs for the "Mentally Challenged", Useful or useless? Options

[MissHygienic]

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.

[*CowerPointyObjects*]

Anyway (oh how I hate myself for typing this instead of studying), not only would it be a political faux pas, it would be a social one as well. Take away special education programs, and where are those people going to go? You can't can't put them in classes with "everyone else," because then everyone else will suffer, and it'll hurt our already poor education system. If you let them fail out of school or don't require them to attend past a certain point, that's pretty damaging and will really give them no future. It could also lead them to be abused or abandoned, because no parent really wants a mentally challenged child to begin with, so to assume that all of them will assume the responsibility to get a private education is unrealistic, especially considering that everyone has a right to a public education, and that it's discrimination to suggest that those with particularly low IQs should have to pay more for that right. In short, special education is needed to get as many of those people to a point where they can function in society as possible so that we don't end up with a bunch of literally unemployed and homeless retarded people on the streets.

(Will edit and whatnot later.)