A Socialist View from Outside the Box

It has been said “…Parents have the right to require that their children be taught in an atmosphere that reflects their values…”. Unfortunately, in deliverance this is wrong. Ask your school principal to change your child’s Education to reflect your family values and you will be quickly told why your values are wrong.

Parents are invited to express their opinion only so the Education system can say they have given the family options. The Education system is designed to run in a particular order delivering a particular curriculum to a particular type of student. The school system acts like a sieve to sift out the lumps to ensure it runs smoothly.

Having spent many hours in the Principals office (as a parent, not a student) I can say without doubt School principals and senior staff DO listen to parents. From experience I can say however, this is NOT to enable the implementation of our values as parents, but rather to explain to us why our values are wrong.

Prior to the 2007 Election in Australia the John Howard Coalition Government implemented change in the Industrial relations act giving more freedom to employees and employers. These changes enabled Individual work place agreements to be negotiated between employer and employee. It gave more freedom to both the worker and the boss. The Rudd Labor government overturned the system after the election in 2007.

This “WorkChoices” system failed because it did not accommodate for Greed. This was perhaps the only problem with the structure. Giving Freedom to Individuals rather than a collective body IS a good thing, when implemented with protection for both employer and employee.

The Education system is run in a similar way to the current Union based Industrial Relations system. Everything is done based on a collective criteria and curriculum. The only students who are eligible to receive an Individual Education Program (IEP) are those with higher support needs. Even then, the IEP’s have to reflect Implementation through a collective system.

The Individual as such has no rights under any collective system. The development of which is done based on an assumed majority.

Parental Autonomy does not exist within the Education System as it currently exists.

It’s obvious the system needs drastic change to accommodate the individual more so than the collective.

3 areas needing change are:

1. All students should receive Individual Education Programs.
2. Students from 8 years of age should be encouraged with support, to set their own curriculum based on pre-determined testing criteria to ensure a streamlined Testing program.
3. Parents should be included in the Design, Implementation and Updating of the Students individual education program.

Eric J. Smith

Teachers in Special Schools work very hard with Children with Special Needs Disabilities. They work to ensure a sound understanding is achieved with situations many take for granted.

While children in mainstream schools are learning the ABC’s, kids in Special needs facilities are learning to dress themselves, learn to communicate through alternative channels, basic life skills, toileting and the like.

Although Special needs children receive the specialised support they require there are several powerful reasons these Special Needs services to be provided in a mainstream setting.

5 Reasons to Enrol Special Needs Children in Mainstream Schools with full time support:

1. Mainstream Students learn to accept the Child behind the disability. While ever kids are made to feel different or “removed” from society there will always be issues relating to acceptance. Students with disabilities need to learn, fail and succeed like any other mainstream student.

2. Disabled Children develop a sense of acceptance. Removing Special Needs Kids from a mainstream setting for permanent education in purpose built facilities does, by default, give them a sense of not only being different but forced to feel unaccepted by society. Kids from All walks of life are different. Some are Short, Some are black, some have red hair and freckles some are obese. All of these differences does not cause these kids to be treated differently. It also does not force them to attend Specialised Education.

3. Social Interaction becomes a permanent part of the Child’s Education and not a “Special Event” or excursion. Removing a child from society to teach them social skills makes about as much sense as taking the paper OUT of the printer to print a document.

4. Not only do Special needs kids learn about the real world, Mainstream Students also learn about the world of a special needs child. Mainstream kids should be given the opportunity to learn a non-spoken language such as Makaton. It not only allows communication with those who can not speak it is also a powerful communication language for people in noisy work environments.

5. Specialised services become more readily available to other students in Mainstream schools. There will always be students with difficulties in all levels of school. Some students with mild Autism, Cerebral Palsy or ADHD. When students with more severe disabilities are educated at mainstream schools, the services for the less severe disabilities are available on hand rather than by appointment.

Society needs to move through generations of change and acceptance before Special Needs Kids and adults will be given some form of belonging to the real world.

Eric J. Smith