Marching to the Beat of Our Own Drummers

Excuses, Excuses

Sorry for my tardiness. The Reed household was hit by a nasty stomach flu this weekend. And while I am happy to report that I can once again stand the sight of food (how I missed it), I am still a bit under the weather.

Quotes and Reaction

"How can I dialogue if I always project ignorance onto others and never percieve my own? How can I dialogue if I regard myself as a case apart from others--mere 'its' in whom I cannot recognize other 'I's?" ~Paulo Freire

I thought Freire's quote addressed the heart of Kliewer's work--the importance of dialogue. We must consciously make an effort to see people for who they are, not for who they are not. So many of the men, women, and children profiled in this piece, were silenced because of their disability. They were not seen as equals worthy of entering into a real conversation about their lives, their dreams, their frustrations.

The very idea that Anne was not invited to sit in on her high school transition planning meeting speaks to the level in which we've institutionalized our bias against people with disabilities. How arrogant to assume you have the right to dictate someone's future without their consent? Anne's planning committee viewed her as an "it" not and "I," an issue to be resolved rather than a person with whom they could and should have dialogued with.


"Those students who exhibit the canonical mind are credited with understanding, even when real understanding is limited or absent; many people . . . can pass the test but fail other, perhaps more appropriate probing measures of understanding. Less happily, many who are capable of exhibiting significant understanding appear deficient, simply because they cannot readily traffic in the commonly accepted coin of the educational realm." ~Howard Gardner

Gardner's quote reminded me, yet again, how everything we read in class is connected. The last sentence of this quote speaks to pretty much every article we've read this year. There is an accepted currency which can be used to buy entrance into the culture of power. Those who were not born with an abundance of that currency and do not possess the means to access it are ostracised by that culture. In Kliewer's piece, this lack of currency applies to the culture of education that we have developed in the United States, one that values tests score and IQ points over other forms of intelligence.

Using this measure, many students are shut out from mainstream education, labeled "uneducable." But what does it mean to educate? For John, labled as "uneducable" by his school in North Hollywood, his education started with acceptance into a community. It was through his daily interactions with people who saw "past his chromosomal anomaly to his humanity" that John was able to show the world who he really was and what he was capable of. Education for John wasn't about sitting in his seat, learning from a book or lecture, but real interaction with his community.

People learn differently. The problem is that we have created a system that fails to recognize and value these differences in students. Thus we become the "sorting machine" Kliewer discusses valuing certain types of knowledge and intelligence over others.


"World-wide, the vast majority of adolescents and youth with disabilities do not attend school. Many have never attend school or attended only once in a while, a fact reflected in UNESCO's estimate that the literacy rate for those with disabilities world-wide is only 3 per cent; the rate for girls and women with disabilities hovers closer to 1 per cent.11

School buildings are routinely built with stairs, or far from community centres, making them inaccessible to many. In many countries, young people with disabilities are considered to be incapable of learning, no matter what their disability. Often a disabled student is considered a distraction to other students and simply sent home. Lack of access to schooling may reflect the belief that such young people cannot learn, that they should not be put through the stress of learning or that they are an embarrassment (evidence of bad blood, incest or divine disfavour) and should not be seen regularly in public." ~UNICEF, An Overview of Young People Living with Disabilities – Their Needs and Their Rights

While we certainly have a long way to go when it comes to properly integrating and educating our students with special needs, I think it is important to put our situation into perspective. Many countries and cultures around the world do not even attempt to educate children with special needs.

A few years ago, AHS had the privilege of hosting three teachers from Indonesia who were interested in learning more about American education. One of the things that fascinated these teachers the most during their visit was the fact that our special education students were schooled with the mainstream high school population. It was one of those moments that makes you appreciate living in a nation that attempts to live up to its credo that "all men are created equal." However flawed the reality of our educational system is at least we are sitting in this class, having a conversation about how to better education for all students because there are many, many children around the world who do not even have that.

They do not have a Kathy who fights for their right to use the expensive, science equipment, or a Tina who thinks nothing of spending 20 minutes mimicking the sound of a chainsaw because that's how Wendy likes to express herself, or a Sarah who questions how to reconcile her belief that all students have value with the reality of testing mandates and teacher evaluations.

I'm not trying to be overly romantic here but I think it is important to recognize how our own struggles with these topics reflect our commitment to these fundamental ideals. If only so that when we get frustrated or feel overwhelmed by the challenge of being a good educator, we can find some solace in the fact that at least we're trying.