Klarinet Archive - Posting 000887.txt from 2004/03

From: Allen Levin <alevin@------.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] not just the music department
Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2004 16:22:52 -0500

I did not mean to suggest that the disabled should not have every
opportunity to learn and enjoy music - or anything else. The problem is
that more resources are required to do it effectively - and the same
legislature that mandates these things refuses to pay any of the
incremental costs of implementing them. Not all students benefit from
mainstreaming. Moreover, it is almost impossible to mainstream a child
without giving the child extra attention. If that attention comes from the
classroom teacher - it is taken away from the other students. Very little
money funnels down to the classroom from the federal government to make
this work.

In the example I gave, I don't think that it was improper to have the child
in the band. But the mother didn't stop there - she threatened the
district with a lawsuit unless her child got a solo. The superintendent
caved in. The concert program was changed at the last minute. A piece
was found that required a triangle or rhythm stick solo (I no longer
remember which). It made mom feel good. It shortchanged the majority of
the children because they couldn't all have solos. It took the teacher's
attention away from the group for the sake of one child. It taught the
other children that effort doesn't count.

In my college class there were two blind students. One demanded
substantial assistance - readers, guides on campus, etc. He demanded that
everyone pay the price of his handicap. He was a bitter young man who, I
understand, died that way.

The other decided - before he ever set foot on campus - that he would learn
to do what was necessary to live life on his own terms. He had braille
books , taped and transcribed his lectures, memorized every building, path
and sidewalk on the campus, sang in choir and glee club. If he ever sought
special treatment, I don't remember it. He graduated high in the class and
started a publishing company. The last time I spoke to him he was healthy,
happy and reasonably prosperous.

That is nowhere near what he was talking about. This kind of cruel
>exageration is responsible for the silent gutting of programs that are the
>only thing that most parents of disabled student have to deal with the needs
>of their children.

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