A few years ago our government basically banned or heavily demolished special ed schools for young kids. This caused a huge uproar from elementary schools as they now had to take all those kids in their normal classes that were not designed for their needs. This causes the rest of the class to suffer as well as the teacher basically can't progress at their normal pace. On top of that these kids are easy targets for bullying.

I've worked in a school and know people who work in elementary schools and this could really damage the education level for future generations. Teachers are getting burned out and students are failing. It's a complete mess yet it doesn't get talked about in the media since they're attempting to cover this up or diminish the problematic consequences this could have.

What are your thoughts on this? Again this personally effects me because I've seen the impact of this first hand. I'm scared of the kind of education my child would receive in the future if this keeps up.

That's awful. Special education classes are necessary not only for the students with special needs, but also so that the other students aren't held back. My step-mom is a middle school teacher, and she always talks about how she has a student in one of her classes that has some kind of disability (I don't remember the specifics) but her parents demanded that she be in regular classes. My step-mom says how she feels bad for the student, because she doesn't get the attention she needs in her class.

My step-mom's sister is also a teacher, but for elementary school. At her school they got rid of special education classes, and she was telling me how horrible it has been when I saw her on Christmas. She said that there's one special needs student in her class that acts out frequently, and that she doesn't have the ability to handle on her own. She said it sucks for the rest of her students, because they don't learn anything when she is forced to focus on that one student.

I completely agree with you, that's a bad situation for the special needs students, the other students, the teachers, and pretty much everyone involved.

tgags123 : I'm afraid it's going to come to a point where schools take action in their own hands and shut down until the government does something.

And damn, didn't know this was happening overseas as well. It's so sad that leaders care so much about money that they're completely screwing over the future generations. Honestly people don't respect teachers enough and they definitely don't get paid enough.

Furret : As someone that comes from a family of teachers (my grandma, grandpa, two of my cousins, step-mom, and setp-aunt) and has worked with children, I definitely agree that they don't get paid enough. Outside of a few states, the pay for teachers sucks in the US.

It's happening on more of a school-by-school basis, rather than a nation or statewide thing. If the budget gets tight, special education classes and resources are one of the things they cut. Unless I'm misunderstanding what they were saying.

Im surprised they can legally get rid of special education programs,  at first i thought you meant like tutoring but no actually  cut programs and or class that are made specifically for kids with disabilities like down syndrome or autism thats sickening but ultimately i believe the courses have been getting in my opinion dumbed down for years now and actually the only classes that i felt i was truly challenged in and had to study for was my AP classes, but ultimately i feel as though public schools have been on a sharp decline at really all levels and honestly i want my kids to have either a charter or private school education...but back to the topic at hand cutting special education will do exactly what you first mentioned it'll lead to bullying of the special kids and ultimately slower the learning process for all students involved 

Furret : This is quite cumbersome, if you ask me. For years, I had been mistreated or misunderstood due to the belief that I was mentally deficient. I was sent to special classes to alleviate my slow reaction speed and lack of participation in class, however, those helped me out immeasurably, as I had peace, quiet, concentration, and the ability to receive help whenever needed and move at my own pace, something I couldn't do within "normal" classes. I once went to a special class reserved for those with autism; It was quite mesmerizing. Despite the societal stigma, they were quite thoughful. Not only were my classmates supportive, they were also friendly. They were ready to help when things seemed bad. The class allowed them to function to the best of their abilities, and I couldn't have been happier. Taking away something that is so useful is contrived. All children should be given the help they desire in an educational setting, regardless of the cost. There should be no banal excuse for removing such a positive thing.      

I was placed in special education as early as I can remember (elementary school). They noticed I was not paying attention in class so they threw me in a room with 3 other kids in substitute of one class, not sure which one maybe math. There we played number munchers on occasion that is all I remember of that.

Then I progressed to middle school where I also had only 1 special education class with 6 other kids. I believe I was put in there instead of taking History or Geography and I am not exactly sure why. I still had to take science and math which I really struggled with.

Then I progressed to high school and there I was placed in no special education classes. I don't know if they didn't have any or what. Anyway I had a bad run and never passed the 9th grade because of the problems I had. After going to 3 different schools in first year I ended up at some weird special education building which I guess was an extension to my first high school that was several miles from it. This building had about 4 teachers and 30 students and that is it. I felt the classes were to be quite honest useless and it only ran from like 8AM to 12 but ALL the classes were special ed based. I mean we'd watch disney movies and stuff. I ended up having troubles there with other kids. I quit the school after a few months and told the principal the classes were useless and it was a waste of time. Interestingly, that school shut down a year after I went to it and I have no clue why, maybe this thread is the reason why it went under, no more funding.

I got a GED within a week of quitting high school and then went to college. I did so bad on the math testing that I was going to be forced to take that as one of the classes and these classes are not cheap, a few thousand dollars. I quit college within 1 week And then I decided to do online education. I took a degree in web design and I don't recall ever taking a single math, science or history class! I was learning what I wanted to learn. I also do not think there is any special education in college that I know of.

I think that special education CAN help CERTAIN kids, but there are no guarantees that it will. I don't recall it ever helping me much from all the years I spent in there and some of the other kids can be trouble makers.

As for bullying schools don't care. When you take matters into your own hands you'll end up getting suspended or expelled which happen to me many times. I think overall the education system is a big flop even with special education. In most the schools I went to you only got to take 1 special education class and that is it you still had to participate in normal classes a majority of the time. This is why I quit it and got alternative education with GED and online education.

I think that overall special education has always been a mess and pushed off to the side. Like I said earlier I don't think higher education has special education classes or at least the colleges I went to had none. I think if you are paying thousands of dollars for a class you should be able to choose special education or not.

From my experiences, the thing I did like about special education was the attention and limited number of students in the class. Teachers actually paid attention you to and you didn't have to worry about 10 to 20 other kids in the class. In normal classes you are sorta just... there... on your own within a group of at least 30 children.

My mom has been working at KCC, Kids Community College, for about five years. It's been turbulent, she hasn't been able to keep her teaching position, so she's taken up other, lower paying positions since, but more than anything I can verify, the school is corrupt. The thing about these kinds of charter schools, KCC is funded by the district, just for hosting all kinds they get paid. As you can imagine, it's a bit of a cluster truck when you have kids with or without special needs being admitted into these establishments, and often parents sign up expecting a better system than a public school. So long as these schools can loosely follow the charter put in place, they get to do whatever they want.

In the five years my mom has been in KCC, there have been three different principals, the second one fired and replaced half the staff, they can't keep an elective teacher for more than a semester, and in particular the Spanish class shifts teachers about every month, which naturally sucks when the students don't have a reliable tutor and have to start from ground one every time a new teacher starts setting up, classes are lazy, half the teachers prefer just playing videos over actual teaching, sometimes not even relevant videos, just movies to keep the children occupied like it's 3 hour day care, and when a student starts causing problems, the high ups either ignore the issue or outright deny it. They get pay per student in the school, doesn't matter what kind of mental deviations or behavioral issues they have, each student is an investment. The current principal has two expensive cars, never updates the schedules for the staff, and is pushing some agenda about Christianity. All this was just an overview of how messed up that school is. My mom states several times that the students aren't learning anything and some kids really don't belong in this kind of program.

It all depends on effort, how much effort do people want to give for the sake of bettering the next generation? Some things just happen to be more convenient for us, can you play a video to keep a child entertained? Yeah, will it improve them for later in life? No. Special needs are sort of a broad term, some kids have different conditions that forces them into a different mindset and behavior than other kids, and will probably affect their lifestyles later down the road, but when you get down to it, education can be tailored to any individual. Some certainly need it more than others, so this practice of using one size to try and fit all isn't helping ourselves in the long run.

Coming from America, the land of bad grades. I can safely say that's a step in the wrong direction. All the teachers are burnt out here though, they can barely even afford to live.

Are you planning to put your child into some other form of education?