Talking Points 9

Citizenship in School: Reconceptualizing Down Syndrome

Christopher Kliewer

Matthew Sawyer

1)"Dialogue imposes itself as the way by which [people] achieve significance as human beings."

This quote is a perfect summary of most of the readings we have done so far in class, Delpit, Carlson, et. al. It is the perfect truth that being able to speak our mind and to have our opinions be heard and recognized is what makes us successful as a human being and a person. A voice that is silenced or that has fallen on deaf ears will never achieve the designation of being a person.

2)"Its 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."

I love this quote and can see why it was included in the text. Society spends enough time labeling people and telling them what they can and can't do so why should school reflect that ideal? Why shouldn't schools combat that belief and fight to teach these children everything they can do and how to deal with criticism so when they do enter the "real" world, they are prepped not only to ignore the critics, but to prove them wrong.

3)"No child was inherently an intellectual burden to a classroom; infact, she argued, each student contributed a unique and potentially valuable dimension to the web of relationships that formed a school community."

I really agree with this quote as i have found it to be so true while working with children who others deemed to be, different, and an inhibitance on a class because they do not fit the social norms, not by choice but by design. Rather than attempting to integrate and "use" these children for their own unique perspective, schools separate these students out of the classroom, destroying the possibilty of a unique learning experience for all students and teachers.

So we've read and discussed separating based on race and monetary funds, which we collectively decided doesnt work. Next we tackled separating based on ability which we learned does more harm than good. Finally we come to tackle a subject that hits home for me: separating based on ability. Were quickly hitting every letter of SCWAMP and destroying it and have arrived at Able-bodied, which i feel should contain able-minded as well. I can honestly say i always felt those with disabilities were intellectually different from me in every way. I am guilty of prejudice towards them growing up and even making fun of those children as a child myself. Once i got the opportunity to work with those children, and learned to care about them because of my brother, that my opinion and mindset changed dramatically. These children have such a loving heart and a fully functioning mind. NO their minds do not function exactly the same as everyone elses, but frankly no ones mind functions exactly the same. Children with disabilities just have a different way of tackeling a problem and forming a solution, a different way of learning that should not only be understood, but should be explored by others in order to create a vast array of knowledge and learning. Theses students need not to be separated based on ability, but to be thanked for their contribution to a classroom and "used" by teachers as a way of showing students how many different interpretations of a subject, a book, or really anything, is correct.