Special Education Is not Education

     An elderly farmer was seen standing in the middle of the road, staring intently at a piece of rope which he held in his hand.  Another gentleman walking by, stopped,, and inquired of the farmer, "What seems to be the problem you have?"
     The farmer, still staring at the rope responded, "I don't know whether I have lost a mule or found a rope."
     Something similiar to this situation is happening today in education.  Educational leaders are looking at what should be a good program and trying to decide if special education is either special or if it's even education.  What could have been a stepping stone to enable students to take an active part in society after school has become a stumbling block.
     In many situations the only thing "special" about special education is the treatment that the student receives and the manner in which he is entitled to behave. There should never be a case in which a special education student is allowed to be a disruptive force in the school system.  In far too many cases, the majority of discipline problems are the problems caused by special education students.  When asked about this situation, one special education teacher said their behaviorial problem was part of the learning disability.  Hogwash!  In the days prior to special education this was not so.  Go back even before integration, in both the black and white schools, you had students that did not learn as easily as others, yet they were not discipline problems.
     A prime example of the problem would be as follows:   A student in the nineth grade is in special education in math.  He/she is supposed to take algebra, but is given a course in math that would be equivalent to a third or fourth grade student.  Consider, this student cannot fail!  He/she is given a grade for performing at a third or fourth grade level in algebra.  Next year, we will put them in algebra II (they have not worked an algebra problem yet), and they will repeat the same third or fourth grade math content.  Repeat this for the next year in geometry, "graduate" him/her, give them pell grants, and send them on to college.
     The student may or may not attend school half of the time, but that makes no difference--they are in special ed!  Call it what you wish, but the student has not received an education.  We have failed the student in all of the special services that we have provided; we failed to provide an education.  The student has become dependent upon the system to give him/her an "education" and chances are he/she will be dependent upon society to provide the necessities of life.