The grass is not always greener

I remember the days I was back in Malaysia and I would read about special education in the United States. I looked through the very thick Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) documents. I read numerous books about the intensive Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) programs for children with autism. I read about the extensive funding and services individuals with disabilities receive. It almost seemed like the United States is a nirwana for individuals with disabilities.

But now that I’m in the United States and I’ve observed in special education classrooms, both at the elementary and high school levels, and I’ve seen programs for adults with disabilities, I realized the grass is not always greener. While there exist strong special education and disabilities laws that require certain things to be done, there also exist a higher moral law where accountability is a big issue.

I’ve seen children with emotional behavioral disorders in a room filled with adult helpers and yet not much teaching and learning takes place. I’ve seen high school special education classrooms where the students listened to their iPods while the teacher was leading a discussion on “current events”. And a current event could be last night’s wrestling match on TV.

Maybe I’m only seeing some of the worst case scenarios. But it does make me reflect on some of my former students in Malaysia, I wonder if they would do any better if they were in the same classrooms that I’ve observed here. Although back home, teachers without the special ed degrees struggled to teach the special kids, at least they were trying. When I see a special ed classroom that’s not functioning well here, it is very disturbing to me.

I wonder if the effects of
Law - Human Element = Human Element - Law?