Freddogg Off The Chain

“I’m on the pavement thinking bout the government” Dylan

A shell shocked soldier was denied disability benefits by the Army who claimed he had a preexisting condition precipitated by him having a head on collision with a 10 wheeled truck prior to induction plus there was documented proof that he took special classes in high school so therefore “brain damage” is not new which begs the question of how be passed the induction physical and why was he sent into a hostile place where people and cars and trash cans blow up randomly and without warning?

When I first began teaching 1975” Special Education”-teaching people to be stupid-in Delaware, I was the “only person” in a school of 800. Now in 2007 there are like 18 teachers who call themselves “Spec Ed” and I can’t tell you how much I hate that term but I just did and if the population is still 800 then what is happening and whatever it is it can’t be good?

I go back to before ‘Special” meant stupid but even in 1976 my classroom has a name tag drilled into the door ‘Special Education” and the first day of school 14 ‘Sped” kids stayed out in the hallway because they didn’t want to be seen walking into the "stupid" room.

I didn’t mind being in the room because I was the group leader not in the group and I never empathized but when I realized the cordless drill was changed to reverse and I screwed the name plate on the Principal's door and my students instantly loved me and there ensued an investigation which began and ended with me and I asked the Principal how he liked it and he said he didn’t and I knew it was mainly because the label was balls on accurate.

That is why most Special Education students in high schools are black because white parents know that once identified the system will never give credit for remediation and it’s ironic that Caucasians do not trust a system they pretty much created.

So what about Hilary’s southern accent in a black church in Selma? Doesn’t she realize that black people in Alabama don’t talk like the white people? I’m sure most of them thought,” Why is this rich bitch going cracker? I’m voting for Borat!”

Freddogg