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Many people with disabilities have had bad experiences with the public education system. The current school system often responds to a child’s inability to learn at the set pace by reducing the standard of achievement instead of improving the instruction. This one fact has had catastrophic results for countless individuals with disabilities.

We would like to improve the outcome of the educational experience for the more than six million students with disabilities in America. We hope to do this by leading you to information that can be invaluable.

Throughout this nation, we have an option to reform the education model. It is called home schooling. If we want to improve the education of children with disabilities in this country, we cannot waste time trying to make existing schools work for all of America's children. It does not.

Education for students with disabilities can best be accomplished by people who genuinely care for these students. It would be better to pay parents to educate students with disabilities than to spend more money and create more legislation to improve our failing public school system. Parents have adopted the home schooling approach without pay. They choose to school their children out of love.

Rather than force the children with disabilities through a mold developed for the masses, let us nurture them through an education experience that can be used to meet their particular, specific needs. Home schooling can be the answer to the question: "How can we improve the education of children with special needs?" Indeed, it is a viable answer.

The Old Paradigm

The education system in this country is antiquated. We herd our children through institutions operated by people who believe they are underpaid. As such, we receive a substandard product.

International and national studies have shown that U.S. students in general do not do well at analysis, synthesis, evaluation, application of knowledge or problem-solving -- that is, at real thinking in subject areas. (source: The National Center for Fair & Open Testing). Oftentimes, students with cognitive impairments need to be able to receive more in depth training than students who do not experience these deficits. If students (generally) are not doing well in real thinking, how much less are students with cognitive disabilities?

Many teachers are frustrated with the education model too. Class sizes often restrict the teacher's ability to meet the needs of individual students. Many of the best and brightest teachers are unable to teach students and reform the education system.

Because of the failure of our education system, our children are becoming the laughing stock of the world and the butt of jokes. If we continue to ignore this nationwide crisis, we will continue to pump out uneducated people.

Morality and Productivity

Public education was originally developed with moral principals that were beneficial to society. In recent years, all sense of morality has been removed from our schools. This, coupled with a general breakdown in moral standards throughout society, has lead to terrible consequences for our children. Never before have we had such chaos. The incidence of school violence has become epidemic. By teaching our children the theory of relativism, we have created a batch of monsters with self-service as their mantra. If it feels good, do it, has increased the population of incarcerated people. How many children become burdens on society instead of contributors to the greater good?

Consider for a moment the rash of school violence in recent years. How many lives could have been spared if children were not crammed together in our school institutions? How many brain injuries occur in our schools every year as a result of violence? If every other concern were to be eliminated, safety would not. Why would a nation of people who claim freedom as their creed, force their children to be institutionalized from a young age and possibly subjected to every sort of human atrocity? Perhaps if the quality of the education received was the best in the world, it might be justified.

The Public School "F"

In 1995, a federal court ordered the state of Ohio to take over the failing Cleveland school system, where only about a third of its students were graduating from high school. (source: PBS). How many of the more than 60% of failed students were experiencing disabilities? How many of these failed students are living productive lives now? How many other school districts are turning out illiterate students? How many students with disabilities are unable to receive the education that is promised to them by our school system? We may never be able to find answers to these questions.

Unfortunately, what we know about our disintegrating school system in this country has not stopped people from shipping their kids off into the hands of strangers.

Empowerment

Children with cognitive impairments, learning disabilities and other disabilities can gain control over their education through home schooling, instead of being forced to squeeze through the restrictive environment that the public education system offers. Instead of subjecting themselves to the current public education mold, our children can blossom into their full potential through an innovative, improved education model.

With computer technology improving exponentially, and with access to information through the world wide web, children with disabilities can receive an education at home that is unmatched in any other forum. The impact of the current interactive telecommunications revolution can go greatly beyond replacing the blackboard with a computer monitor. It can revolutionize the very nature and dynamics of the conventional classroom experience. We no longer need the education warehouses that we call schools. Each student can receive state of the art equipment, personalized instruction and nearly unlimited, real-world oriented information.

By eliminating the institutions of the old education model, the cost of providing education to our students with disabilities would be reduced significantly, thereby providing relief to the payers of tax. The quality of the education that children with disabilities receive could be improved without increasing the tax burden by diverting resources we use to maintain the current system.

Nevertheless, we must also look at the negative aspects of this idea.

By schooling the children with disabilities at home we eliminate the need for the little buses. The companies who bus our "special needs" children might refuse to accept this change. We also have the special education aids, assistants and teachers. They too have a financial stake in this issue. Then we have the people who are employed to shuffle the additional paperwork for these students. The hours spent by these personnel could be reduced and their jobs might be jeopardized by shifting from the old system to the improved method of teaching and educating.

Maintenance and Utilities

Consider the staggering costs associated with maintenance of and utilities for the buildings. The people who provide the products and services for this aspect of our current model of education might experience cutbacks and losses. Surely they too would be opposed to a massive paradigm shift within the educational model in this country.

Equipment

Every business uses a variety of equipment in its day to day operations. The education business is no different. Every kind of machine used in this business requires maintenance and eventual replacement. Billions of dollars are spent on vehicles, office equipment and other machines used in the operation of this enterprise.

Construction

Consider for a moment the massive cost of new construction. By reducing or eliminating the population of students attending traditional "bricks and mortar" school buildings, the need for new school buildings would decrease. The contracting firms that fatten their pockets with the profit from these construction and expansion projects might object to the reduction in new construction.

Food, Housekeeping and Other Services

The providers of the food service programs and other programs that might be reduced or eliminated would surely object to the reductions too. Someone must keep the buildings swept, mopped and otherwise cleaned. Trash removal, painting, grounds keeping and many more general services would be affected by reductions in attendance.

The utility companies might also resist the drop in profits due to the reduction in or elimination of school buildings all over America due to decreased attendance.

Police

Now think about the incredible cost of the police force that patrols the halls of education. I've personally witnessed the lack of books and other supplies for children, while the police ride in new cars! Where are the priorities? What are these children really being taught?

Oftentimes our children with disabilities get an early education in the criminal justice system. Many of our kids with disabilities become young victims of injustice at the hands of the people we pay to educate them. The schools of America have become a cowcatcher for the train of criminal justice. Many of our students with disabilities are scooped up and railroaded into our penal institutions. For some, the education that they receive there becomes sufficient to lead them into a life of crime, addiction, and permanent institutionalization.

Think for a moment about the facts related to the criminal justice industry. The Federal government of the United States of America recently released facts that prove conclusively that crime rates are as low or lower than they were in the 1960's. This is in contrast to significant increases in our population. Yet we continue to build new prisons. Unless these statistics are flawed, we must ask, "Why are we building more prisons?"

Studies have also shown that a great many prison inmates have sustained traumatic brain injury. If we could reduce the population of prisons by any amount, it might upset the current construction trend. This could have catastrophic results in our economy. American portfolios rely on the continued growth of our economy to produce profits. If we could pull our students with disabilities out of the current institutions that we call schools and actually educate them, we would without a doubt reduce the population of prisons. This might have negative effects on our economy.

Of course, many of the people who would become educated could become productive members of society. That might have a positive effect on the economy. This economic shift would be gradual and sustainable as more people became productive instead of counter-productive. Those who have financial interests in the many faceted criminal justice industry would undoubtedly resist or resent the drop in "customers."

Not the Cure-All

Nevertheless, education is not the cure-all for crime. Many people sustain brain injury and live without criminal tendencies and many criminals never sustained a brain injury. Also, no matter the education level of a person, they can become a criminal. White collar crime illustrates this point clearly. Besides, despite a person's level or quality of education, they are a candidate for brain trauma.

Some people who are caught up in the halls of education by "Officer Friendly," become lifelong burdens on society. This may be because they do not fit through the mold our public education system tries to press them through.

Lobbyists Opposed

Let's face it, there are many political lobbyists that would be opposed to a massive shift in our education system from public to private home schooling.

If we were to pull the students with disabilities out of the current education system, the resources used to educate them within the system could be diverted into their actual education. This fact would prove cost effectiveness and improve the quality of their education. If we truly want to serve the nation's students with disabilities and improve their progress and prospects, we must consider other options.

The Crossroad

We stand at a crossroad in the education of students with disabilities. Rich or poor, urban, suburban, or rural, all students with disabilities in any schools and districts are affected by special education. We do not have a true model of public school accountability. The best tools in promoting education equity and excellence would be provided in a private education setting that is focused directly on accountability and achievement.

The people with disabilities probably cannot overturn the entire education model. However, we can make the world a little better place for the students with disabilities. It is time to think outside the box that has become a restriction to open minded thinking and true education, especially for children with disabilities.

We are responsible to God for the education of our children. Maybe it is about time that we live up to that responsibility.

LINKS TO MORE INFORMATION

The following links will lead you to sites outside of the PABIA site that provide information about schooling your children at home. The best part is that you can now provide your child with individualized, highly effective instruction at home without cost to you.

PA Home Schoolers A wealth of information regarding every aspect of schooling your child at home.

PA Home Schooler's Links Leads to more information relevant to home schooling.

Colleges That Admit Homeschoolers

Harrisburg Area Homeschoolers Association

Financial Aid Web Site Free service and newsletters.

Nationwide Homeschooling Legal Defense