Category: Teen Topics
i've been in mainstream school all my life but last year went 2 a vi school. i found it unplesent & restricting, & i felt it made me more aware dat i can't see which isn't sumthin i think about much. i also thought dat it had bad effects on impressionable students who often had tendencies 2 rock & shake their heads.
is it just me or is mainstream just better at makin highschool peeps understand life & nt be in a separate "disabled" world?
I would suggest you read the topic successes/failures in blind schooling. I gave my opinion very clearly on this subject in that topic.
special schools rule, mainly because they can better provide with you with what you need, and they have a netter understanding of needs
Not really. I go to public school, and I got everything I needed.
Pitbull, you're absolutely right - at least in my opinion. I went to a blind school too, last year; it was evil! I know what you mean about restrictive and besides that, the staff were just not nice. 'Cept for a few.
Still. The blind school did give me some musical experiences I'd not have had if I hadn't gone there, I have to give them that. But still, I think mainstream is a lot better. The people at the school for the blind said you can do anything, but they wouldn't barely let you walk around campus by yourself. My mobility teacher didn't think I could travel a block by myself ...
Nah, all in all, I prefer public school. :)
Scratch
I think blind school would have its advantages. You could play goal ball which i would LOVE! lol but yeah u could get technology classes that would benifit you instead of the classes they give at my school which involve pictures and stupid stuff like that, but yeah. I think public school is good. I've never attended a blind school, but from what i've heard...
yeah... thats my view.
Jenna and Bilko
As I've said on other board topics similar to this one, I don't think it is an either or proposition. Both have their places, and things they do better than otehrs. I had both experiences, and think I got a great deal from both types of schools.
Lou
I think both have adantages and disadvantages. Normal schools and colleges are good because you're with everyone else no matter what disability or ability they've got and it's just more normal if that's possible. hahaha. Well for blind schools and colleges, I think they're good because they can teach living skills and mobility and all the computers have the right software on, but they do have lots of restrictions, especially if you're under eighteen. I think the only bad thing about mainstream schools is that sometimes they try and give you too much help or if it's in the case of food technology classes, try and take over a bit because of time. Hahaha.
hell yah main streaming is better ecause u and I know the whole world isn't blind or anything like that. I thinking being in a VI school shelters u a little bit at least from people I've met that go or use to go to VI school they just seem different to me, sometimes low self of steam, social some of them don't no how to interact with others u no. Me trying to talk and make friends with some of them is hard, most of the time I just walk away because theirs nothing to talk about u no. Yah I think it's great that those schools igsist but I don't think someone should be in one of those for a long time .
This is an incredibly difficult issue to form a cut and dried view on, because, as has been previously said, both school set-ups have their positives, and their negatives.
I spent all of my mandatory education years in a special school, and have still achieved a good level of academic achievement. Many folks maintain that special schools, as a general rule, do not provide the same level of education and tuition as do mainstream schools. I don't feel that such a sweeping statemtne can be made, because, as with any organisation, standards vary from establishment to establishment. Whilst I had to fight to be allowed to take the same number of GCSE exams as my sighted piers, I know of others who were encouraged to do more than the average number. Where those in mainstream must fight to have classes in braille, assistive technology and mobility training, I got these as standard.
Being in a special school made my formative years of education much easier. There was no struggle to receive written matterials in an accessible format at the same time as the others in the class. There was no being ostrasised because I was the only child who required an assistant to work with. There was no bullying because I couldn't see as well as the other children. Yet, despite being sociable with my schoolmates, it did, to an extent, squash social growth. My school was not near my home, so any school friends could not also be home friends. I often didn't return home until 5 at night, and by the time i'd had dinner and waded through homework, I was often too exhausted to go out and play. This meant that I was incredibly intravert, according to the other kids on my street at least.
Yet, I mainstreamed when I went to university. Here again, there were advantages and disadvantages. Now I found myself in an environment which, despite all promises to the contrary, was not in the slightest adapted to meet my needs. Nor did this change over the three years I attended that institution, despite numerous requests for alterations. I was in a class where it took constant struggle to be able to access the written work alongside everyone else, yet I was expected to achieve that which the rest of the year achieved. Educationally, this was an advantage, for it pushed me a lot, and broadened horizons, yet it was not easy. I was now given the chance to socialise with piers, to have school friends as home friends, but they were not keen, to say the least. Now when I said earlier that I appeared intravert to the kids on my street, this was only an impression gained by the fact that, apart from weekends, I didn't often go out and play. This does not imply that I was, or am, socially inept. I'm not, and did have friends even as a child, although fewer than the average child because of my far awya schooling. I was therefore surprised when I was snubbed, avoided, even pitied too much to be befriended on an equal basis by the others in my cohort. This was bullying; subtle, unconscious, unintentional perhaps, yet still it had the same effect.
There's a reason to that massive recounting of personal experiences, and it is this; either form of schooling can work. I did survive university and even got a degree, which attests to the validy of that statement. In an ideal world, all of our little ones would be mainstreamed, in an environment where all of their extra needs were met, yet whilst they could still socialise and develop alongside non-disabled children. The fact is though, it's not an ideal world. If there are good support systems in your area, then mainstreaming is an option. However, the vast majority of mainstream cases I have seen have been subjected to inadequate tuition, lack of written handouts, bullying by other children, and a lack of necessary resources such as braille tuition, O and M classes, and assistive tech advice. These skills will be essential in later life, and so it is unforgivable that they are lacking in early education.
Many poo poo special schooling because they have been conditioned to think it wrong. If you go to special school, somehow it makes you a failure; less than the superblink who's toughed it out through mainstream, who has clawed their way through education. But let me ask you this. Is special school any different to a school which specialises in teaching gifted children? Is it any different from a school for the elite, the genius in our society? For they too have lessons specifically tailored to their needs, as do VI school children. Each is designed to afford their children the best outcome possible. Each teacher is trained to specialise in that particular field, and thus, offer much more effective tuition.
No, instead of sniping at how inadequate these schools are, perhaps we should be attempting to change the historic attitudes of the staff there-in, to encourage them to allow their children to grow socially, emotionally and independence wise instead of just educationally. I am not saying that special schools are perfect. By my own admission, they are not. Yet many of the more forward thinking ones produce incredibly bright, sociable, independant, self motivated people.
FM
My experiences with special schools (for any disabilities, not just vision schools) are that they focus more on the fact that the person has the disability for which the person is there, and they make handicaps out of both able-bodied and dependant students. For the able-bodied students who have not been sucked into feeling disabled, these special schools use them as employees rather than students. Is it just me or are special schools warehousing, rather than teaching students?
School, as a general rule for me, sucks. Special, not special, they all suck. If I had my way, I'd have been enjoying the types of schools they showed on Oprah once where you could choose what you learned about for 3 hours a day, & the other 3 hours were mandatory bs. School was boring & lousy. After you get out of second/third grade, they suck all the fun out of it & you start to hate learning. Nevermind getting abused by other students, which was always one of my favorite experiences. Yes, I'm being sarcastic here.
I think special schools have a few special cases where they may be useful. One your 5 or 6 years old, a center program where you spend most of your time working with blind students and the rest of your time in a regular classroom. This allows you to learn braille and technology while not having a complete lack of social interaction with sited peers. After you have basic skills you should be moved into a mainstream school full time. The second situation where I could see a disabled school being useful is for students who just lost there vision. They could spend a year there going through intensive training at which point they could be mainstreamed again. To post 10 you may think you have social skills but if you didn't have many sited friends or much sited interaction as a child you have no measuring stick to judge your self against other then the other blind individuals you k now so don't automatically assume that it was the college students fault for shunning and bullying you, maybe you were bringing it on your self. The world isn't an accomidating place, having everything spoon fed to you. If I didn't have to advocate for what I needed in high school and determine what technology would work best there is no way I could be successful at work. I'm glad I was mainstreamed even though it meant school was harder because it's made me more independent, a better self advocater, and allowed me to be successful.
Battle Mask
I did in fact have sighted friends. I guess I didn't make myself clear enough in the last post. The only reason I brought up the friends issue was to try and illustrate the point that, due to having to travel to and from school which was a good distance away from my home every day, the time i did have to spend with the friends was limited. Because i was always tired, they looked at me as more of an intravert.
No, I played with the rest of the kids on my street. At weekends, my folks never saw me because I was always out and doing. The point that I was trying to make was that going to a special school made socialising not impossible, but much more difficult for me because of the constant tiredness.
FM
in my one year in special school, my education suffered grately. i was promised lots of thinggs and non turned up. also nothing was in the braille format i used. like i was given a brailled out table which wasnt in columns like a print one and i couldnt read it. i couldnt make frends with a lot of the students coz i did not understand there quietness and y they wernt running up and down corridores and shouting to frends like i did. also i had had such good support in mainstream that the teachers there seemed unhelpfull and never corrected social problems in other students. i was also hated for my love of sighted life although i have alwys had vary little sight. no one cud understand my want to look and act like a sighted person, no one cud laugh at sighted jokes. no one ever played pranks or stuff like that. on the other students. and the bullying in special school is way worse than mainstream. in mainstream u get in to fights, name call and that kind of thing. were i was peeps were spightfull and spread rumers, or told staff ud done something to get u done and staff just take there word and dont investigate. also i found bullies in special school much more manipulative and psycologicly harmfull.
I think that's at least half of the bully's "MO" is to get down & dirty psychologically. No matter where you are.
Bullies' "MO?" I don't understand. Also, in my experience, I like mainstream better. However, I've only ever been to visit a blind school for a day. And that school was multi-handicapped as well. But I feel like the people I have met who go to blind schools tend not to have a lot of other friends, outside of the blind world. Blind friends are awesome. I know I need mine. But sighted friends, I need those too. Let's face it. I know everyone's said this before a zillion times, but it's a sighted world. So going to a blind school won't necissarily prepare you for all that sightedness. But, obviously, this is just my opinion. I don't think I could ever go to a blind school full time like that because I'd feel too shut out from sighted people.
I was able to learn the extra skills I needed such as mobility and braille at infants, in a mainstream environemnt. I had to be taken away from the rest of the class for some of that teaching, but was able to return at other times. the teaching took place within my school, and that's how it should be.
I think some reasons bullying can be worse in special schools, is that visually impaired people look down on other visually impaired people more. There is a greater variety of abilities in special schools, and people go into them with different seperiences. Some have been in mainsream education, others have always been in special schools.
Academically, the problem with special schools is that they're extreme, and give you a false sense of what the world is really like. They teach people that they should expect certain things from sighted people, when in reality, they may have to do more explaining, and be more able and willing to adapt to different situations.
Hey, I studied at a regular school all my life and I did okay. As far as schools for the blind or special schools, I think they are trying their best to cater specifically to students with disabilities, but they are not doing them any good because like the first poster said, they make you aware of your blindness, which is okay, but its not helpful. I think main stream schools are better than special schools. I grew up from a different country so, I don’t know why is it a big deal here in the United States if you have a visual impairment. I did not care about my bad eye sight until I came here. Its sad that people categorize you based on what they see in you. So, even the school you go to reflects who you are? I don’t know. But for me, its better to go to a regular school and get some accommodations from your vision teacher. I think that if you go to a school for the blind, it limits your opportunities to have a normal experience at school and it lessens the chances you have to socialize with sighted people. another thing that I noticed is that the academic expectations are different. A lot of people already told me that they went to a school for the blind and their teacher did not have high expectations on their school performance.
I just want to post my opinion here. So if you want to post about it...
I think that blind schools and mane streams school both have there advantages and disadvantages.
I would go to a blind school for music lessons because they are less likely too be so visual. I tried to be in band class one year. The person that was so-post too be teaching me what they were doing in class did not do anything. On the other hand I would not go to a blind school to get the rest of my education. This is because as some posters said before I don't think that they will have vary high expations of me. This means that I will not be faced with as many challenges. I like to be challenged.
As for the social Ishim's. I like my other blind friends but you also need some sited friends. Because that way when you graduate you will not know how the rest of the world interacts with each other. Also when you graduate and you get a job you might have some trouble finding one because you will be expecting people too adapted things for you. I think that A year at a blind school would be good but for me at least no more.
Oh, bullies more, omg I feel so stupid, sorry. I get it now. I think that's sort of true, that there's more bullies at blind schools...just because blind people put pressure on each other to act as least blind as possible. Hahaha or that's my feeling anyway. I think America's pretty uptight about it all, honestly. If you go to a blind school, you're not as good at stuff or something. That's just what pepole think anyways. And I think people at blind schools do need to up their education expectations and stuff, give blind kids more motivation to be at the same academic level as sighted kids.
I totally agree with the last poster. I mean, some people graduate from a school for the blind, and they still write disjointed, choppy sentences like they're back in second or third grade. Their vocabulary in terms of writing doesn't seem very broad either. just my thoughts.
ive been to blind colleges for the last 3 years, but the actual courses are very limited. Yes most of the living skills training i had has been good, but i think it should be taught where it belongs, at home like wen the sighted people learn to cook and stuff.
I think that will happen more in future, if local authorities invest in what they describe as rehabitation officers. In my area there is only one. That isn't enough.
The bullies are awful, but a child must learn to deal with them at a young age. Because when one comes out in to the real worlds there are plenty of them running around. People are cruel. If they are trapped in a blind school and are not taught to deal and fight with these bullies, problems can arise very quickly. I live in California and I went to CSB’s tech camp one year, and one week was painful enough. ?Ethics was bad, a loud alarm went off for ten minutes after the person was awake, not too much work went on, and people were generally lazy. Sure, there was the good parts, we got cookies and candy in this one room, and the other after a few minutes of work, about fifteen minutes we get snacks, and the rest of the time it’s basically party, There was talking pedometers and hart monitors, I think the thredmill talk, we watched a movie every night and I was free to wander around, because I wasn’t interested, I had a really good roommate, and we went on a really cool field trip. Oh, and one teacher was named Jerry and the other Jone and Jerry was right next door to Jone. I found that amusing. I had to say, though, I went home disappointed. It was more of a fun camp than a tech camp. I really want to learn more computer things. Seriously, all I learnt was how to get on the internet, how to use a Braille display, how to check e-mails, and other things I already knew. Well, I did find out something, though, and that was I had a ridiculously old braillenote.
As for special schools? never seen one, never been to one and glad for it and I thank my parents. I am in Australia. I am now 21 so should prob not be posting on here, but all I can say is that I am glad I went all mainstream throughout schooling. Never had any problems with materials in the right format, always made friends, to everyone I was considered just like everyone else, they just knew that I couldn't see, but that was just a given thing. So special schools? fuck that, I would never have gone to one. Can you imagine some of the blindisms some blind people have. It's bloody disgusting! and it puts a bad name on the rest of us.
Well I have always considered myself fortunate not to have been sent away to the blind boarding school. I mean, all the stories as kids you hear about evil boarding schools ... I had a friend once ask if we were 'really bad' would my parents end up sending me away to one of those things. Kinda found the whole idea chilling as a kid, but I realize that's all silly.
Here's the deal though, I've a different spin on it.
At one point my daughter wanted to go to a Christian school where her friend was. My answer was an emphatic no, and before some of you prepare your retort on religious grounds, my response was not anti-religion. I am a convert, though faith and its relatives are the hardest of life's components, for me anyway. So it's not opposition, but it's what you all call blindisms. Maybe they're not blind but equally antisocial or asocial or whatever. I don't mean crinkle the little nose when so-and-so's daddy pops a cold one, I mean actual, real, extremist stuff. There have been other threads which have more than compensated said topics, but her main education comes from the public space, where she'll have to live and work and such. Summer camps? Fine provided I can afford it. Even winter camp or the weekend things they do for girls only or youth and stuff, sorta like rock concerts. She goes with her friends, they stay up all night and make general mayhem over the affair, but for getting school she gets the real sciences and other studies from the public space from which most of the population gets theirs. I'd even do a private school whose primary focus was ... school ... but I saw this board months ago, and ironically we had this falling out over it kinda shocked her mom I think but I didn't even bring price into it: it's the principle of the thing.
And as for sheltered? She's got a friend whose mom is belly-aching about this, belly-aching about that, everyone's a liberal all that, same as any other asocial. Her friend just to me seems, sort of younger. Visually she looks her age they say, but I couldn't help at first treating her as though she were a couple years younger, unless I stopped and thought about it.
Not saying a magnet or charter ssituation is bad: that's based on one's abilities or excellence in an area, but exclusive population schools be they all black, all blind, all of one religious persuasion, I don't think even all gay, is any good. And out here in Oregon, apparently, the school for the blind has lost its accreditation for quite a few years. Um? A tax-payer-sponsored school that's not accredited? A religious institution might do that ... but public money? Hope that's not how it is around the country. I'd have been seriously upset to find my daughter had done years of school only to find it unaccredited. We paid for this?
Anyway, the African Americans proved this in the sixties: separate but equal is ... not equal ...
right on robozork! Exactly... don't even start me on Christian establishments such as schools.
And me neither, half the time my friends forget I am blind... Hahahaha!