School Wars: Handicapping Education

RACHEL, a mentally retarded, speech-impaired 9-year-old with an IQ of 44 and a mental age of 4, sits in a California classroom, obliviously staring at a textbook that is upside-down in front of her. Across the country in New Jersey, Rafael, a mentally retarded 5-year-old with an IQ of 59 and a mental age of 2 who cannot speak intelligibly and who must be taken to the bathroom every 15 minutes, creates havoc with frequent outbursts, tantrums, and assaults on teachers, aides, and other students.

These scenes are the result of a movement called “full inclusion,” whose supporters declare that putting children like Rachel and Rafael into separate classes is a form of illegal discrimination. Proponents argue that full inclusion is required by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which says disabled children should be educated with nondisabled children “to the maximum extent appropriate.” Yet IDEA also requires that public schools provide highly specialized education “designed to meet the unique needs” of handicapped children. That is precisely what full inclusion fails to do.

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Thomas J. Murphy

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RACHEL, a mentally retarded, speech-impaired 9-year-old with an IQ of 44 and a mental age of 4, sits in a California classroom, obliviously staring at a textbook that is upside-down in front of her. Across the country in New Jersey, Rafael, a mentally retarded 5-year-old with an IQ of 59 and a mental age of 2 who cannot speak intelligibly and who must be taken to the bathroom every 15 minutes, creates havoc with frequent outbursts, tantrums, and assaults on teachers, aides, and other students.

These scenes are the result of a movement called “full inclusion,” whose supporters declare that putting children like Rachel and Rafael into separate classes is a form of illegal discrimination. Proponents argue that full inclusion is required by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which says disabled children should be educated with nondisabled children “to the maximum extent appropriate.” Yet IDEA also requires that public schools provide highly specialized education “designed to meet the unique needs” of handicapped children. That is precisely what full inclusion fails to do.