Response to Kliewer, Varenne, and McDermott

Ryan Mottram
FNED 346
Mrs.McKamey
11/11/18

Culture "as" Disability 

By: Ray McDermott & Herve Varenne

Quotes: 

"A disability may be a better display board for the weaknesses of a cultural system than it is an account of real persons."

Elementary and secondary schools that are not as attentive as they should be to their disabled students and whose teachers or students do not treat them normally with the same amount of respect as they would a normal individual, surely have a disability in their system.  Treating these students the same academically is not so appropriate, due to them struggling to keep up with the pace of the class and potentially being set up for failure.  Treating them the same socially is absolutely necessary and should not be a problem for anyone to do so they can feel like everybody else by fitting in and gaining more motivation to work hard as a result.  The special ed. students I worked with showed more confidence when doing their work and class activities when I or another teachers helped them, because they had someone to look up to and not feel hesitant to ask for help.  

"The easy use of the term suffer often carries an invidious comparison of the "disabled" with those seemingly "enabled" by the conventions of a culture."

Both persons who are mentally and/or physically disabled suffer enough as it is, and others should not cause them to suffer more than they already do.  Every school that offers a special education program should definitely have the resources necessary to appeal to their needs as well as the teachers who are willing to help them.  All elementary and secondary schools should offer special ed. if they do not already.  Rather than comparing disabled and enabled students to see who suffers the most in schools, faculty and staff should take more action by doing their best to equalize the education between the two.  

"Failure is a constant possibility in American schools, and by the dictates of the normal curve, it absorbs about half the students along the way.  Failure is always ready to acquire someone."

I strongly believe failure is only possible if one chooses or allows themselves to fail and/or if others around them do not care and let them fail.  Regarding young and disabled students, it seems failure is only possible if the teachers permit it and do not do their job, due to the amount of attention these teachers are required to give to those students.  It is different with average capacity students in secondary education schools, for they are at the age where they are responsible for their own work and taking initiative to get help from the teacher when needed, and the teachers have multiple students to instruct.  I've worked in an elementary special ed. classroom with two other teachers and when the few students we had needed one-on-one help with math or writing sheets, we gave that to them and made sure they learned how to do the work so failure would not be an option.  

Comment:

I feel a class discussion about what we think regarding mentally and physically disabled students being in separate classrooms or equal in the same classrooms as average capacity students, would be beneficial.   

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mzLNrk6d8WMNzipSieLlf5L-KQxXhSTl/view

Citizenship in School: Reconceptualizing Down Syndrome

By: Christopher Kliewer

Quotes:

"The presence of a thoughtful mind has been linked to patterns of behavioral and communicative conformity associated with competence in logical-mathematical thinking and linguistic skills."

Just because a student may seriously struggle with mathematics and science does not mean they cannot do well in other courses that tend to focus more on reading and writing.  Students with learning disabilities tend to struggle a lot more with math than subjects such as English and history.  Once the student gets the extra help by an assistant teacher he/she will more than likely understand the material soon afterward.  Most of the students I've worked with who needed extra help and/or had a learning disability were able to retain the information once they had that one-on-one help and understood the work done.      

"School citizenship requires that students not be categorized and separated based on presumed defect."

Regardless of any disabilities, students should be united with their school community one way or another.  Although some students may require extra help with math or even spelling, this does not mean they can't participate in fun class activities with all the other students in the same classroom.  In the elementary school I'm currently working at there are a few students in the class that need extra help, and so I or the other assistant teacher work with them for a bit in the back of the room.  When they are done getting this help they can go play cards or go the laptops to play educational games with the other students.  It should work this way with minor learning disability students in all public elementary schools. 

"Community banishment of students with Down Syndrome stems from their lack of behavioral and communicative conformity to school standards that form the parameters of intellectual normality."

If students with Down Syndrome are not conformed to their community in their youth then it will be even harder for them to fit in socially when they get older. Although they may require extra and private attention academically in order to fully succeed, they should still be permitted to participate in schoolwide activities with the other students.  I must say I have never worked with a student who has Down Syndrome, but if I ever do I might try to communicate with them through writing on paper rather than directly speaking.  Although there may be difficulty communicating with these students verbally, they can still participate in physical activities with other students so there is no sense of exclusion.  

Comment:

Although mathematics and sciences may be the courses that students with these disabilities struggle with the most does not mean they cannot excel in other subjects that require less complex problem solving and more writing or visual learning.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-JcBFAuLc-0bXVmZVR4ODI0RHc/view