tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1556371561007953336.post8546878890675812639..comments2024-03-16T16:44:18.220-07:00Comments on Bad Cripple: Education: A Total Failurewilliam Peacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00223601480542461802noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1556371561007953336.post-37662820873784580222011-04-10T21:16:03.196-07:002011-04-10T21:16:03.196-07:00Social justice, hell. I'll bet if you were den...Social justice, hell. I'll bet if you were denied your quality education you'd be dependent on welfare right now. I'll bet you'd be taxing the public coffers for a hell of a lot more than the cost of your education!The Untoward Ladyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18035737424208837888noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1556371561007953336.post-7245079421456711732011-04-10T12:45:29.578-07:002011-04-10T12:45:29.578-07:00Bill, you bring up a wonderful point that society ...Bill, you bring up a wonderful point that society is still trying to sweep under the rug, and as Confucius said, "He who sweep things under rug, get lumpy rug." <br />This situtation is not only untenable but unsustainable. It's the proverbial elephant in the drawing room of polite society. Everyone knows it's there, because it's a hard problem to ignore, but they're doing their best, because no one in so-called polite society wants to be the first to say, "You know, we really ought to do something about this elephant." Another fact that I'm sure polite society is trying its best to forget is that the elephant can only be ignored for so long before it goes on the rampage & can no longer be ignored. I think we're at that point now. <br />As FDR said, "History will not ask us if we have added a little to the fortunes of those who have much, but if we have done much to add to the fortunes of those who have little."<br />Education is yet another issue where the struggles of people with disabilities seem strikingly similar to the struggles of feminists. When my grandmother was 16, she was encouraged to drop out of high school and go to work at a local flower shop. After all, it was during the Great Depression, her family was poor, and they needed all of their money to send her older brother to college so that he could get a good job and support his family. No one thought that she might need (or want) a good education; they all expected that she would marry a man with a good education, bear his children, cook his meals, clean his house, and serve his every whim. No one ever suggested that they might save money for her education, because she was a woman. My grandmother was, nonetheless, a very smart person, & I always wondered what wonderful gifts she could have given to society if anyone could have been bothered to give her a proper education. I can't help but wonder what amazing discoveries in a myraid of fields are being left by the wayside by denying proper education to people with disabilities. Have we ignored the future scientist destined to cure cancer, AIDS, or find a cure for the common cold? Have we taken the person who will revolutionize the reclamation & treatment of water to secure a safe & sustainable supply for all of the world's people & confined them to a nursing home where their ideas will never reach the rest of us? Have we left uneducated the future physicist destined to solve the problems of cold fusion? <br />The private Waldorf School I attended as a child taught that every life and every person has value, and that every person deserves respect, because we're all the same inside, no matter what we look like in the outside. I think it's time for more of that kind of thinking.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com