November 28, 2009

Heritage or Butterball Turkey- But the Gobble Sounds the Same

My last blog was at Halloween. This four week interval has given me time to complete a dream of longstanding- to have my own school and to implement programs based upon a conceptual understanding of the brain and childhood development. It’s almost done and I’m so excited! As each week passed, I jotted things down to use here- and the pile grew while not a word got written. Then yesterday was Thanksgiving, and I found the perfect segue. Old fashioned turkeys are making a comeback. Somehow, I totally related to that! Heritage turkeys are old fashioned breeds that look like their wild ancestors and are more flavorful, with more dark meat than modern birds. They’re expensive to produce and take longer to raise than the Broad-Breasted White (Think Butterball.) Enthusiasts of the breeds from a bygone era say that because the birds were allowed to run free, live naturally, and are raised on small farms, they taste better and make a political statement. Mass production and genetic engineering makes turkeys cheaper to buy, and you won’t know the difference between them if you’ve never tasted the real thing. But once you have, you’re willing to pay the extra money and wait in line to get one.

I’ve been blessed to be an old turkey. Before there were any rules and special education was put in a cage and neutered, there was a new frontier to explore. Small groups of parents formed and taught themselves how to figure out the laws of special education. They knew before the lawyers did. We created it from scratch and spread the word to other groups about what the entitlements of a free public education were for our children. The federal government had not screwed it up yet with discretionary funding to groups who were forced to lie and do nothing if their funding was to be continued through a system of grants. There was no quick and easy way to learn the system. Looking back, it took each of us in the core group about 10 years before we had all of the pieces to connect the dots and make sense of the difference between what the laws guaranteed and what actually happened. It became expensive because we created libraries, took courses, and became politically active at every level, from our towns to the Presidential Office on our own dime. Those of us who are left have a different flavor than those who came after, to such a degree that we still infuriate the newbies by our very existence. Recently I read a brief in a case and found to my astonishment that it was largely about me. There was an unexplained fury in the words that I can only attribute to a Butterball (BB) who has never tasted the real thing. The single problem between the two categories of turkeys is that their gobble all sounds the same. Words still appear and make the noises of special education. But when you pull out the feathers and cook that sucker, one will get the job done because it is free ranging, while the other falls on its face because its chest is too big and it can’t walk outside of the cage that props it up.

Let me go through my pile of clippings so we can get ready for the December rush.

1. The “R” word. In a recent publication by the New Jersey Council on Developmental Disabilities, there was an emphasis on the disrespectful nature of using the word “retarded” for those who are retarded. T-shirts and signs were available to order with a large R crossed out. This had particular resonance for me because my daughter was retarded. But in a magazine designed to address those with the most severe needs, the focus was on renaming, or not naming at all, the very real needs of those with retardation. It was a sign of the times. It began in 1990 when The Education for All Handicapped Children’s Act of 1975 was reauthorized and named The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act. There were a variety of reasons given for the renaming. But it all went toward building the Inclusion movement in public education. Handicapped was too severe a word to use, meaning that something was really wrong with the kid that general education couldn’t fix. Disability was a nicer, softer word, and matched other legislation that used that term. Retardation is a very real and important word, one that parents must understand for realistic planning and communication. If anyone thinks we will help those with retardation by sensitizing others not to use it, I have one huge Butterball turkey waiting for them. If school peers or members of the community call them a Retard, or harass them by calling their classroom the Retard Room, there are measures to be taken. But nothing changes by changing a word. Better to have a campaign to put the “I” in IEP, than a pretense that retardation does not exist, and the word deleted from our vocabularies.
2. Improving teacher training. New York State is exploring ways to change teaching certification programs. Colleges who specialize in teacher training are often accused of not doing enough to prepare teachers for the actual classroom. It is being recommended that more hands-on classroom work be required, similar to medical residencies. More than 90% of teachers pass the certification test, but can’t make it through further graduate study (Programs to Certify Teachers May Grow, Jennifer Medina, The New York Times, 11/16/09). We have been talking about improving teacher training programs since there were teachers. Remember that thing called special education? One of its central tenants was that it would force a complete retraining of teachers. That never happened. There is only one way to learn how to teach. Teach. Work with a master teacher. Study but then apply what you learn in the moment. Find out when the last time was that your professor taught children in a public school. The concept is old turkey all the way, Heritage and dark meat with zesty flavor. Nothing, nothing is more exciting than teaching. Nothing is more creative or exhilarating. It’s just that those chubby Butterballs often clog up the flow of energy because a little free thinking here and there scares the giblets right out of them!
3. Early Learning Programs. It looks as though Obama will sign the Early Learning Challenge Fund into law in December. It will channel $8 billion over eight years to states promising to improve standards, training and oversight of programs serving infants, toddlers and preschoolers. Oversight varies by state so that even when programs are funded, children enter school without the necessary skills. (New Initiative Would Focus on Raising Quality of Early Learning Programs, Sam Dillon, The New York Times, 9/20/09). There are many differing views about this initiative, but the fact that it is being attempted and funded at all during this time in our economy gets it a two Heritage turkey rating.

As we work our way toward the end of 2009, the weight of what we face as individuals, as families, as states, as a nation seems completely overwhelming. Never have we seen giant ice bergs floating in a tropical ocean with warnings for ships to be careful of ice as they head for the palm trees. We know we are killing the planet and yet countries, our own included, won’t figure out how to cap carbon emissions. We are ecstatic to find water on the moon because it may be a launching point for space exploration when this planet is uninhabitable. We’re fighting two wars and more young Americans are about to be added to that mix. The economy at the grass roots level is scary, with long lines at a 4 A.M. Target opening unexplained in the light of sanity. What issue gets us, and turns us into fighters and free rangers rather than those accepting the cage and the hatchet? We hear everybody taking about the importance of education as the lynch pin for everything else faced both now and tomorrow. We’ll get better thinkers, inventors, workers; better peace makers, economists, teachers. Beware of the gobble-gobble and consider the source. Look for results, you know- that ancient concept known as truth. A little sass along with the pabulum is a good thing. We have a Heritage in special education. Don’t sell it out for the sake of convenience and a large serving of white meat.