Thursday, December 07, 2006

Special Education Labels

I have worked scoring exams for Special Education, and now as a detention supervisor at a Jr. High, I frequently have Special Education kids in detention.

Among the problems I have noticed with the system, is that once a kid is labeled by a psychologist as a “behavior problem,” that child is suddenly allowed to stop trying, and stop behaving. The bad behavior is expected.

Where does this leave the child when they grow up?
Can they expect to say nasty, obscene and hurtful things to their boss and coworkers and then storm out to the parking lot for an hour to cool off? Aren’t kids supposed to learn coping skills in school to prepare for later life?

Though I am not a licensed professional, I find it disturbing to expect less from a student and enable them to behave poorly because that student gets angry when asked to do schoolwork or behave in an acceptable manner.

1 comment:

Evident said...

I am not sure if the teaching of coping skills should be the sole reponsibility of schools. What happened to parents taking responsibility? How are kids supposed to learn coping skills from a society that over-indulges their every whim?