The right to a free education Essay Example for Free

The right to a free education Essay Is one of the dearest rights that we, as Americans, have in this country. People from the four corners of the world, come to America to be educated and to benefit from the many advances that the American public and private educational systems offer in this country. Until recently, this did not expand to those children with developmental disabilities. As a Special Education teacher, I have seen first hand, the benefits of inclusion; not just for the individuals themselves, but also for the students within the classroom. In doing so, the school can adhere to the popular and effective principle of implementing diversity in the classroom and teaches those involved, that different does not mean bad or inferior. Inclusion offers the individual, the best possible opportunity to learn and to be assimilated into society and the community. The individual learns that he or she is just as good as everybody else and has many of the same hopes and dreams that their peers have within the classroom. Also, if it is in the best interest of the student, once he has become an adult, to enter into a group home, their efforts towards community integration, which is the goal of nearly every group home facility in this country, to have a background of inclusion. These early years are the most critical for the individual and any efforts at dissuading the parent or guardian of the student, will reap bitter rewards and will further serve as an impediment to the learning process of the individual, perhaps for his entire life. The school system focuses on one aspect of the education of an individual. Morals and ethics are no longer taught in our schools and the student, once he or she graduates from high school, their education is void of any real life experiences. Students today find themselves book smart but lack the ability to implement those skills into real life situations. One way that the school system can reverse this is through the inclusion of developmentally disabled individuals. Many times, it is the success or the failure of the individual which is paramount in deciding in whether or not inclusion for the individual is in her best interest. It is important that this remains the case. However, in a class room setting, there are twenty to thirty individuals who stand to gain a great deal through the inclusion of a special needs child within their classroom. When in college, I worked at a group home for mentally handicapped adults. There was a series of homes in the neighborhood which houses between eight and sixteen individuals with special needs. Since many of the individuals were middle aged, and therefore had not enjoyed the benefits of inclusion, their social skills with people in their own community, was poor at best. Also, the problem was two fold as the neighbors within these communities, fought hard to keep these group homes out of their areas. This was hard to believe as I found my experiences very favorable and quickly made friends with people who very much wanted to be my friend and treasured it as one of the more important aspects of their life. Therefore, I could not understand how others would see these lovely and friendly individuals as threats to their happiness and safety. In the few years that I worked at these group homes and the additional years in which I kept in contact with these valuable friends, I never heard or witnessed any incident where the feelings of the neighbors were justified. What did become clear, was that the xenophobia which was the source of such, almost hatred, towards some of the most friendly and peaceful people that I had ever known. In talking with some of the people in the neighborhood, I quickly realized that their lack of contact with members of the developmentally disabled population was the chief motivating factor in their rudeness towards the residents of this group home. Their experiences were not unique at all as many of the same stories were shared by friends and co workers who worked at other homes. Their experiences mirrored mine to an alarming degree. In the same way one may look at an individual of another race with hatred or some level of prejudice, mostly due to their lack of involvement with members of that particular race or ethnic group, so too is the result of those who have had little to no contact with members of the DD population. Inclusion helps to combat this problem to a great degree. This is one of the most helpful and practical results of inclusion. It not only helps the individual, but to a larger degree, helps introduce students to those who are different. This does not mean that the individual is to be put on display to be laughed at or to be made to feel inferior. Not at all! When children are associated with people of different ethnicities and abilities, both mental and physical, it is to their benefit in the long run. Most of the psychologists agree; Behavior is learned. Therefore, it behooves the majority, not.