School Wars: A Different Sort of Handicap

PUTTING incontinent nine-year-olds into regular third-grade classes is a minor disruption for students in a standard curriculum compared to the irrevocable damage suffered by millions of normal children with average intelligence who have been placed in special education programs because their regular reading instructors could not teach them to read.

In 1975 Congress passed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to provide specially trained teachers with high-priced helpers, including psychologists and physical therapists, for children with disabilities such as impaired sight or hearing, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, and mental retardation. No one expected these highly trained instructors to teach any but students with disabilities that are real obstacles to learning. Proponents and opponents of the bill alike would be surprised to learn that 4 million of the 5 million public-school special education students have no mental or physical handicaps.

PUTTING incontinent nine-year-olds into regular third-grade classes is a minor disruption for students in a standard curriculum compared to the irrevocable damage suffered by millions of normal children with average intelligence who have been placed in special education programs because their regular reading instructors could not teach them to read.

In 1975 Congress passed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to provide specially trained teachers with high-priced helpers, including psychologists and physical therapists, for children with disabilities such as impaired sight or hearing, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, and mental retardation. No one expected these highly trained instructors to teach any but students with disabilities that are real obstacles to learning. Proponents and opponents of the bill alike would be surprised to learn that 4 million of the 5 million public-school special education students have no mental or physical handicaps.