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It was brought to my attention by Guido that he was very upset with John Gormley this morning. The issue at stake was inclusive education at all costs. What's inclusive education, you might ask? It is education where EVERY child, regardless of ability to learn, is situated in a classroom with his or her class. This may be to include teacher's aides with the child to attempt to have the child keep up with the rest of the class. John, of course, took the non-politically correct side of the argument, and presented that side as well as Lori Larsen from the SACL presented the full inclusion side of the argument.

Now, with full disclosure, Guido has a disabled child. And the child is a great kid. Nothing I say here reflects on him personally, nor is it an attack of the disabled in general. This is actually a defense of the right of disabled persons to receive the best education that is possible for them.

The issue is that the Saskatchewan Party government is changing the Education Act such that the school boards are being empowered to do a special needs assessment in consultation with parents, counsellors and other professionals and to develop a plan tailored to each individual student's needs. This is being viewed as an attack on inclusive education because that plan may exclude the child from the "normal" classroom if it is determined that this approach is not in the best interests of the child.

I'll be honest, I actually agree with the changes. Why do I agree with the changes? I agree simply for the reason that no two persons are alike, and no two persons will learn alike. For most people this difference is not significant and as a result, you have a large number of children in one classroom. For the precious few though, they have needs which may have two results, either (A) they can not keep up with the class without help, and may become frustrated or (B) their special needs becomes a disruption to the class as a whole. For those children, I do believe that an honest assessment should be done, and the best interests of the child and their abilities should dictate the course that their education takes.

Do I support social segregation? Absolutely not. Do I support classroom segregation? Absolutely, if it's in the best interests of the child. Simple as that. It's the outcome for the child that is important, regardless of the method of arriving at that outcome. If the outcome happens to include segregation during learning time and integration during breaks and gym class, then so be it. Do I also support that this be done at any cost? Only if that cost is merely financial and not at a cost to the other students in the classroom. If the ability for the other students to learn is compromised then that cost to society will be much greater in the end than the cost of one child being viewed to be "excluded". Do I support the Provincial government providing the money to school boards for special needs children? Absolutely, because the incremental cost of a special needs child may be too greater for the taxpayers of an individual school district to bear.