Citizenship In School- Connections

When reading this article by Christopher Kliewer, it made me think back to Delpit, specifically when she talks about the rules and codes of power. Delpit tells us that we need to teach the kids the rules and codes of power so they know right from wrong. In this article, Kliewer believes that children with disabilities need to be mixed in regular classes with students who do not have disabilities, mainly so the children know that they are equal and not being separated from the other students. It also made me think "can separate be equal?"

The article basically focuses on the idea that children should be put together in one classroom whether they have disabilities or not. No child should feel how little Mia Peterson felt when she was in school. As educators, we do not want the children to feel sad and angry that they are not with other children. It just makes them feel like they can not achieve as much as the other students. Kliewer believes that if you want your child to be successful in this society, they need to comprehend a specific "dialogue".

Kliewer believes that schools act like "sorting machines", which reminds me of tracking. Schools discriminate students by their race, ability, and gender. When schools separate the children like this and begin to track them. it creates a competition between the children, which is not what we want. Tracking can be viewed as discriminating against children. If children know they are being put in the special ed classes, they are just going to view themselves as not as smart as the other children.

My point to share is this. This quote caught my attention while reading and I was wondering what other people thought of it: "It's not like they come here to be labeled, or to believe the label. We're all here-kids, teachers, parents, whoever-it's about all of us working together, playing together, being together, and that's
what learning is. Don't tell me any of these kids are being set up to fail."