Inclusion

            
             Inclusion benefits not only those students with disabilities, but also their non-disabled peers. Inclusive education means that all students in a particular school, regardless of their strengths or weaknesses, become part of that school. The Federal Individual with Disabilities Education Act, also known as IDEA, mandates that each state must establish procedures to ensure that children with disabilities are educated with children without disabilities (Janket 4). While some have the opinion that inclusion takes away the amount of learning one should receive, I believe that inclusion provides opportunities for all students to develop skills they need to learn, live, and work together in all aspects of society.
             When the idea of special education first came about, many schools practiced two types of discrimination towards special education students (Janket 9). First, the teachers excluded many students with disabilities, or if they did admit them into their schools, they would not always provide them with an equal education as the children without disabilities. Special education began with total neglect, moved to remote residential schools, then to local special day schools, to special classes in regular schools, and finally to full inclusion in regular schools. Even as late as the 1970's, an estimated one million kids with disabilities did not even attend schools because teachers did not know how to teach them (Janket 4). Second, the schools used "labeling" frequently to exclude kids from regular classes and activities. When the teachers did not know how to handle a student, they would label them as a student with disabilities so they would be placed in a different class, that way they did not have to worry about fixing the problem (Janket 11). Albert Shanker, president of the American Confederation of Teachers, has strongly opposed the extreme elements of inclusion, fearing disruption in school programs, which serve other students.