Mainstream education in the United States
To truly understand the meaning of inclusive education in the United States, it is important to distinguish the difference between “inclusive” education and “mainstream” education. Mainstream education is merely placing children with disabilities in the general classroom with their peers as opposed to putting them in a special classroom for the day, or sending them to a separate school for children with disabilities (Ferguson, 1995). Although mainstream education is an improvement to older segregation models of educating children with disabilities, or worse not educating children with disabilities at all, it does not traditionally provide students with the supports they need to succeed in the general classroom. Instead, many mainstream education systems in the United States allow students to be “pulled out” at various times throughout the day so they can receive the supports they need in particular subjects such as math or reading.
The option to pull out students is problematic as it continues to segregate children with disabilities from their peers for varying periods of time and for an array of reasons. Students with disabilities are often pulled out of the mainstream classroom for strikingly inappropriate reasons such as learning how to use a pencil eraser. Further, many students with disabilities still spend most, if not all, of the day in segregated special classrooms working on basic skills. The IDEA requires students to be educated in the “least restrictive environment” and this gives school districts the option to place children in segregated classrooms if that is found to be the best option. The existence of segregated classrooms is problematic and does not effectively fit into a mainstream education model because simply placing child with a disability in the same building as other children is not mainstreaming. Further, segregated classrooms represent an unfortunate step in the wrong direction for developing inclusive education systems.
Mainstream education in the United States
To truly understand the meaning of inclusive education in the United States, it is important to distinguish the difference between “inclusive” education and “mainstream” education. Mainstream education is merely placing children with disabilities in the general classroom with their peers as opposed to putting them in a special classroom for the day, or sending them to a separate school for children with disabilities (Ferguson, 1995). Although mainstream education is an improvement to older segregation models of educating children with disabilities, or worse not educating children with disabilities at all, it does not traditionally provide students with the supports they need to succeed in the general classroom. Instead, many mainstream education systems in the United States allow students to be “pulled out” at various times throughout the day so they can receive the supports they need in particular subjects such as math or reading.
The option to pull out students is problematic as it continues to segregate children with disabilities from their peers for varying periods of time and for an array of reasons. Students with disabilities are often pulled out of the mainstream classroom for strikingly inappropriate reasons such as learning how to use a pencil eraser. Further, many students with disabilities still spend most, if not all, of the day in segregated special classrooms working on basic skills. The IDEA requires students to be educated in the “least restrictive environment” and this gives school districts the option to place children in segregated classrooms if that is found to be the best option. The existence of segregated classrooms is problematic and does not effectively fit into a mainstream education model because simply placing child with a disability in the same building as other children is not mainstreaming. Further, segregated classrooms represent an unfortunate step in the wrong direction for developing inclusive education systems.
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