3/1/07

I have been looking at an article and online discussion about academic waivers for LD students. I have been using the site's RSS feed to follow the discussion. Here's the link to the site: http://www.ldresources.org/p=929. This was dealing with foreign language requirements in college, but since the requirements at the high school level are changing I thought it would be relevant. Some of the discussion was based on these questions:
-If you can waive a requirement for any reason, does your degree mean as much?
-Is it your responsibility to know what the college/university policy is on waivers before you enroll?
Things again got a little heated, as one side said students should look for a more accommodating school and the other said the system should change. They referenced legal issues BU was involved in, contemplating if it is right to receive a degree with a certain school's prestige backing it up if you didn't complete all of the school's requirements. I'm getting a little far from the high school setting with that, so let me get back on track. One post was by a foreign language professor. She talked about how students with disabilities in language areas can focus on cultural and historical aspects of the language/class, they might be more successful in sign language, and they will just have to realize they'll have to work harder at this than at other subjects. This combined with a teacher who is trying to make accommodations and help this student should make the goal of learning another language attainable. One thing I had a problem with on the discussion board is that one person kept saying, "what about people who cannot learn a language or do the math?" (They paralleled math to foreign language often.) I don't think it's acceptable to say that someone "cannot" do it; that's completely giving up on it and I'm not sure it's ever safe to give up like that.