Participants included the Eaton family, a name well known to those of us in the field: the Eaton's took their fight to place their daughter Emily in the classroom environment of their choice all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. Also on the panel were representatives from various educational and social organizations, representing a variety of interests. The audience was also varied, but composed mainly of concerned parents.
I was very upset by the debate that emerged, and I think this particular gathering was illustrative of an unfortunate trend in the politics of education: polarization.
I not the parent of a child with special needs, nor am I a member of an educational institution. This may explain in part why I have difficulty understanding the rather rigid points of view expressed. When a great deal of emotion is added to a debate, logic and reason do not always win out.
In brief, for many of the participants it was clear that they viewed the issue of educational placement as an either/or issue: a child is either segragated or included. Given the wide range of educational strategies available, I will not waste anyone's time arguing that these terms are massive generalizations...there are no absolutes in life, and that is certainly true in the case of educational programming.
I had hoped to bring the following concern to the discussion: while debating appropriate educational strategies is of obvious importance, if we do not have the resources necessary to provide a full spectrum of options, everyone loses! All across Ontario we are seeing the dismantling of educational support systems - fewer speech pathologists, fewer educational assistants - less, less, less. In the pursuit of more "inclusionary" programs we are seeing children with special needs "dumped" in the mainstream classroom environment, and their support systems removed. By all means, let's provide children with the least restrictive environment that will support their learning needs. But what do we do when Johnny can't read and there is no one to help him?
During the discussion that followed speeches from the floor, I raised this concern, and received quite a mixed reaction. Numerous parents nodded in agreement and supported my call for a cooperative efforts in preserving valuable educational resources. However, I was also accused of "blaming integration/inclusion" for current problems.
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