We All Should Be Outraged!
Okay, so I pride myself on the fact that I let few things upset me in my professional life (Jim might say otherwise), but when a colleague brought this to my attention, it brought me to tears. Alex, who is not yet officially diagnosed with Aspergers (a form of autism), was singled out by his teacher and made to withstand a "Survivor-like" vote as to whether or not he should be part of his class. Alex is in kindergarten, that's right folks, kindergarten! It was absolutely heartbreaking to hear his mother describe the day and night that followed as he was voted out of his class 14 to 2.
I am bringing this to your attention to let you know that we have laws in place for students with special needs but it only takes a single action to make someone feel as if they do not belong. I will be researching this story more to find out what on earth would make a teacher (and I use that term loosely) think it is okay to do such a thing. Please take the time to watch this video possibly with your own children and have a discussion about what it meant for Alex to go through this ordeal. I think the two children who voted to keep Alex in the classroom are pretty special and that is definitely a lesson I want to teach my children. Our love to all!
1 comment:
I think this teacher should be fired. NOONE should be singled out like that. Talk about discrimination. Jackson teacher had a discussion about a boy in his class (without him being present) and told the class he was autistic. I thought that was bad enough. We should be encouraging him to be part of the group not singling him out because he is different.
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