Friday, September 14, 2007
Not so P.C.
At work yesterday my kids took a quiz and because some of them get time and a half (educators will be familiar with the term-it means that for kids with learning disabilities they get extra time to take their exams) we had to wait to do some paperwork until they were finished. This was not a major blockage and something we're all pretty used to by now. Except for one new professor who declared "We just have to wait for the retards." She wasn't trying to be funny, that's just the word she chose to refer to them. Our mouths fell open and there was uncomfortable chuckling, but then she asks "Why do they get this retard-time anyway? Are they stupid?" I was astounded! I thought maybe she was trying to be cute, but then I realized she just didn't know that this was inappropriate (not being native to the U.S.) So I gently told her that this is not the vocabulary we use and gave her some alternatives. From the grading we've done so far I can tell you the "retards" did very well.
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2 comments:
I ran into a similar situation in my school! I didn't get an IEP for a student I thought should be on one, so I asked the teacher next door where the paper work is housed. The answer was right across the hall, but instead of saying that, she went on about how she doesn't believe in learning disabilities and that in order to help them get over this imaginary crutch their parents made up, we should ignore their accommodations. WTF?!?
You guys know I am a little hard of hearing. Someone once told me that they believed hearing was like a muscle & all you had to do was exercise your ears.. Like turning the TV down so you had to really strain to hear it. FYI: It doesn't not work. I'm still a deafo :)
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