Health Article Forum-Discussion about health care and Health article in Health Article Forum

How can we as a nation decrease taxes and increase school opportunity for giving equal education for kids that as she calls "special'?  Could it be we are spending too much (its  higher per student on special ed) on special ed denying other children a less then excellent education? Would it be better to give the parents the money per student and let them hire someone more geared on a one and one basis ? Can you help me understand how we can give equal to someone that will never be equal? I m not trying to be insensitive, since I have family and know other family with autism, which is much like what we used to call retardation, is there a difference? I have a real idea of what I m talking about and not insensitve and work with and for all people and special people do deserve special treatment, and I have only seen severe autism with llittle progress and tens of thousands spent, in  a single yr.  In my state,they have real good bus,field trips and baby sitting etc extra better for these students  and I have much compassion for these people and it is true they learn but will never be the capasity of other students and should get help and so should the families, but I still dont agree that this is the responsibility of the education system and Palin is putting it on the taxpayers who already pay for social programs as educationI m only saying to look at the facts, not be against the problem but to look for a better solutution for the growing problem, this is how things get done, by addressing the problem and it not being lumped together,when the outcome is what is in dire need for all, not just a few

i know that palin has low i.q., but please let's target what she does, and not insult people that are totally out of this debate and deserve more respect.no autism is not "retardation". this is offensive. if you knew of the dramas, you would certianly be more sensitive.keep the focus on the politicians please, do not attack defenseless people.

Well lets look at some facts. The fact is that we are spending more per child on education than any other nation in the world. Yet our educational standards are falling when compared to the rest of the world. The educational system we have now is severely broken.  This is not a problem that we can just throw money at and solve. If that was the case it should have been solved long ago. Take for example my home state of Massachusetts. We have teachers that have failed the teacher competency test multiple times. We have yet to fire them. They continue to teach no matter how unqualified they are. How are we going to fix things if their is never accountability.

No this will not hurt other students, most children with autism and other disabilities usually need an aide with them at all times. It puts a stress on teachers of autistic children when there is not enough help for these special children. These children can be taught to be a productive citizen and live normal lives but not with out the proper education. There are different disabilities with each autistic child. Some more severe than others. Each case has to be determined by the individuals needs. Instead of educating the children of illegals, we should be putting this money into helping children of citizens and these beautiful children with special needs.

Well if Palin follows her budget plan she laid out for Alaska it would be a moot point.  Alaska's budget cuts for services are alarming. The numbers to me don't indicate a person that's going to do all she can to help my child or your child, with or without disabilities. As the governor she oversees the budget for the Department of Education and Early Development Special Schools in Alaska.She took office in November 2006, if you look at the budget numbers, she's not a big supporter of funding education:  7,949.300 (2006 actual), she cut it to 3,173,000 (2007), and in 2008 planned to cut it to 3,156,000http://www.gov.state.ak.us/omb/08_OMB/budget/EED/comp2735.pdfhttp://www.gov.state.ak.us/omb/09_omb/budget/EED/comp2735.pdfI think, at any cost, is that we should allow every child an equal opportunity to succeed. Special Ed is going to be one of the components that will help my child to succeed, hopefully to be able to live independently with supports, in the future.  If we can't provide him with the skills to do that through education, the cost to support him later in life will be much more than what we might have invested while he was in school. As for how we refer to children, let's forget about the labels and use People First Language - see link below. Bottom line - education of ALL our children should be a priority and sadly has been underfunded or is not equally distributed for decades. All I ask you is to look at where we are spending our money. We are spending billions of dollars in Iraq and billions of dollars on space programs. Could we not afford to increase funding for education, job development and family support? Social programs aimed at helping people do a better job in our country would be better than finding "life" on Mars.