Many of you don't have a realistic picture of gifted and special needs students:
Gifted kids don't tend to drop out -- not unless there are other issues involved too. What happens if they don't have appropriate challenges and appropriate instruction is that they just don't rise to the level of their ability. High ability and high motivation are two separate measures; some students have both, but others have the ability but no real desire to work hard. Some of them act out badly and become disruptions in the classroom, but most just sit quietly doing their own thing; that's more a matter of personality than of ability. Some of their families provide wonderful extra enrichment, but most don't -- they see it as the school's responsibility. So a gifted child who doesn't get gifted instruction really just languishes in the average classroom. In some classes they can make As easily and without any real effort, and this means that they don't build up study skills; so when they hit something that doesn't come easily for them (for me it was Chemistry and French), they don't have those good habits and they are unprepared.
This hurts us as a society because we NEED our best and brightest to be challenged. We need them to push themselves academically, then enter competative fields that'll allow them to do good for society. Note that many of our engineers and doctors are now coming from other countries. We're not pushing our own kids towards these high-tech, high-ability jobs.
Gifted education doesn't have to be expensive; a pull-out class for small groups is very affordable, a great value for the expenditure. And more is better. We need to spend MORE on these kids. These are the kids who will lead our society in the future. Without leadership, where will we be in 10, 20, 30 years? You cannot assume that they'll rise to the occasion without some push from somewhere.
At the same time, we cannot ignore our weakest students. The kids whom some posters have referred to as "slow learners" or kids with learning disabilities make massive gains when they're able to take part in small group instruction -- but small group instruction means another teacher. Though it's considered "bad" to admit it, most of these kids aren't getting any help at home. In many cases, simply having a scheduled time to sit down and do their reading /homework is enough to bring these kids' grades up. In many cases, the kids are labeled "learning disabled", but the truth is that they're just behind grade level because they haven't been doing their work. In a small group setting, they can't hide behind other students, and when they actually do what's expected, their grades flourish. The person who runs this small group class could even be a para-professional; after all, the idea is just to support the classroom assignments, not to design new ones. I'm really talking about a study hall.
Most kids in this category can "make it" in a regular classroom if they ALSO have a small group study-hall type class at some point during the day (I'm thinking high school here). These are the kids who, if ignored, will become a drag on our society; they'll need our tax dollars because they'll not be able to support themselves sufficiently. We cannot afford NOT to do all we can to bring them up to par so that they can do well for themselves in the future. If you don't have compassion for them on a personal level, remember that this group will either eat up our tax dollars in the form of welfare and food stamps . . . or they will work and pay our social security benefits. And the direction they go is largely based upon what the schools do for them now.
Now . . . the real special needs kids, who are small in number but significant in dollars . . .
Next there are the kids whose disabilities are more severe. These kids will never hold a "good job"; their opportunities are limited. Their educations are much more expensive than the average student's, but they get a world of good out of it. These are the kids who are capable of someday living in a group home and working in a cafeteria or at McDonalds. Most families cannot afford the therapies that these kids get for free through schools (they're regularly visited by vocational therapists, speech therapists, and more); many of these families are already in financial crisis because these kids are incredibly expensive to raise. These kids may never learn to read and write, but they graduate with an occupational diploma, and by the time they've finished school they have work habits, personal grooming habits, and life skill habits. If you were to compound a dollars-and-cents spreadsheet, you might say that society won't "get as much out of these kids" as it puts in; but it doesn't matter. It's a quality of life issue. It's better for these kids to be able to grow up having some independence and some work skills rather than to be dependant upon the government and their parents for the rest of their lives.
Then there are the severely and profoundly disabled kids. These are the kids who may not speak, may not walk, will always need constant supervision, and will never even be able to do the halfway-house-and-simple-job route. The school may be working with them on things as simple as toilet training. School for them is really the mechanism through which they receive a number of therapies, therapies which most families cannot afford. These therapists aren't school employees; they're the same people who the kids'd be seeing if they were staying home, and they're largely funded through tax dollars; it's efficient for the therapist to see the kids all at school rather than going to multiple private homes. These kids do cost the school system a fortune, but -- even putting the federal law aside -- we're talking about human beings here. Some of these kids have even been put into foster care because their families cannot afford to care for them.
What should be cut? Not education. Could you really come in and tell a family, "Your child deserves less than other children?" I understand perfectly that there isn't enough money to go around, but education isn't the thing to cut.
