Talking points 9 - Citizenship in Schools

Jared Cormier

Christopher Kliewer

Citizenship in school

1. “[community] requires a willingness to see people as they are – different perhaps in their minds and their bodies, but not different in their spirits or their willingness and their ability to contribute to the mosaic of society.”

                This is from Judith Snow regarding the merging of disabled and non-disabled children in schools. This states that although people have certain strengths and weakness, everyone has a desire to use those strengths to contribute and further their position  in society.

2. “…It’s about all of us working together, playing together, being together, and that’s what learning is.”

              

             This is from Shane Robbins explaining how she integrates the six clinically disabled students into her classroom. It’s also a broad statement that could be applied to society as a whole, which also explains how integrated classrooms benefit all students in preparation for the real world.

3. “To value another is to recognize diversity as the norm. It establishes the equal worth of all schoolchildren, a sense that we all benefit from each other, and the fundamental right of every student to belong.”

               

           This reiterates the idea that disabled or not, everyone has the potential to contribute to society. Society runs on the things that make us different, and the earlier in life we are exposed to those differences, the more likely we are to contribute.

                Though long and rather wordy, the text contained interesting points. Before reading the article I could not imagine any benefit to integrating disabled kids with non-disabled kids. I figured the disabled kids would be unable to keep up and the non-disabled kids would feel held back. The alternative form of schooling presented better prepares kids for life outside of the classroom. Finding beneficial ways to use the strengths of a disabled person not only increases their confidence, it gives non-disabled people a different perspective on others in that disabled or not,  we all contain the same human spirit and desire to better ourselves and society.