Here is an interesting letter supposedly from a teacher....Obviously not a math teacher,as 8 years in special school plus 8 years in public school would make this contributor 15 when she graduated as a teacher........

I just have to respond to the article entitled \'Who the fuck is Jean Walker?\'. Here is MY say. Oh how I do love to read a rant from someone who makes gross generalisations, throws in some human rights references and fairly obviously has no experience as a classroom teacher - let alone one teaching in a classroom with included children. By the way - diapers? Are we not in Australia NOT America? I have had 8 years of experience working in a special needs school and the same amount working as a teacher in the public system - before you dismiss me as a lazy arsed old teacher - I have just turned 31. I also have a daughter -before you decide I probably don\'t have children. Every class I have ever taught has had at least one included child. There is certainly a space for included children in the mainstream system - but not for EVERY included child. Some included children are far worse off in a school system that is just not set up to cater for them properly. Teachers are frustrated and find it very upsetting that they are not able to cater for these children properly because they don\'t have adequate funding and in some cases they just don\'t have the experience. They are frustrated and feel guilty because they know that they are not doing the best thing by the child and want to be able to do more. The problem about changing a child\'s nappy is not the task itself - it is what is happening to the other 27 kids in your class while you are doing that? How do you teach or at least supervise 27 other children while you are changing a nappy? What about the included kids that I have had in classes who the rest of the children are terrified of? What about the rights of the REST OF THE CLASS? No-one seems to care about them! I have taught kindergarten classes with included children who spent the entire day running about the class shrieking when anyone tries to stop them or engage them in an activity, pushing over other children, hitting and kicking other kids and racing through the class tipping over trays of lego etc. How do you think the other children in the class are feeling? Are their needs being met? Yes, included children do come with Teacher Aide time, but it is not always a full time Aide. What do you think happens to the other children? Day after day I would be trying to read stories to the kinders on the mat (for example) with another child shrieking, running over and kicking at the kids, kicking doors and crying as a few examples. All the while the poor Teacher Aide tried to stop this from happe! ning and to take the child off to another activity. I can remember one day this particular child pulled one of the kinder girls down to the ground from behind. He moved like lightning, it was impossible to stop him every time he did it. Anyway, her head narrowly missed the edge of a table. She got up, stunned, and trying not to cry said \'It is ok, ...... is just trying to play with me and he doesn\'t know how\'. She was four. Where are her rights? Doesn\'t she have the right to learn in a safe environment? This sort of thing happened EVERY DAY. Why was he crying and so upset was what I used to wonder and worry about. Probably because were not able to meet his needs, despite our best efforts and best intentions. Mainstream schooling is not set up properly for children with such great needs. Class sizes are too big, classrooms are too small, there is not enough Aide time. I am not saying this as a whinge - just a fact. This is how it is and as I have said before teachers are frustrated and feel guilty because they are not able to do the best by all the children in their classes. As I said before there are certainly many included children who thrive in mainstream schooling and they are certainly in the right place, but many do not and are not. However, I do think that the rights of ALL children need to be considered and we should really look at the situation and the make an honest assessment of whether or not it is in the best interests of the child to be included in mainstream schooling for a start. If it is established that it is, then adequate funding must be put in to making it work. Don\'t dismiss \'Special schools\' by the way. They do wonderful work and are well equipped for dealing with children with disabilities. The one I used to do volunteer work for was simply wonderful. The teachers and aides cared about the children and worked hard to help them realise their full potential. They were also better equipped to do this. I am not sure why it is assumed that they are such dreadful places that children should not attend. There is no blanket solution but a decent amount of funding would go a long way.............T/M Pesponse>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Thnx for that, we put diaper in and then had a bet to see if we could attract some pedantic lunatic. U obviously have no fucking idea about special needs kids and to highlight an extreme example as u did is no more than sensationalising. Violent children whether special needs or not are not tolerated in schools and nor they should be. The problem with one dimentional know-all dickheads like yourself and the Jean Walkers of this world is that u imagine u are qualified to judge where the lines are drawn in determining who is suitable for mainstream schooling and who is not. As for our generalising why don't you go to the UNITED NATIONS webpage and take a gander at the declaration on rights of the child ,especially disabled child. After that We don't really give a fuck what u do.........15/8/06