Content area
Full text
Schools are organized as if nature has already won the contest.
Signs in schools often brag that "every child can learn." But when I experience the reality of these schools, I'm often left believing those words don't apply to students with disabilities. Although education is intended to promote the nurture side of the nature vs. nurture equation, most schools act as if they believe nature has won that contest. Consider three assumptions that guide the practice of special education.
Assumption #1 : Students with disabilities must first show that they can learn before we can teach them with students who don't have disabilities. Students with disabilities are often assigned to a special classroom or school simply because of their disability. They're automatically viewed as not being able to learn what their nondisabled peers are learning.
A more valuable assumption would be, as Anne Donnellan (1984) has proposed, to adhere to the "least dangerous assumption." This assumption asks that educators assume a student can learn and teach that student accordingly. To do otherwise could mean denying a student a quality...