This is because of a persisting utilitarian philosophy which assumes the greatest good for the greatest number of people is achieved when educators target students with the maximum potential for contributing to the maintenance of the social and economic order.
Equality is sacrificed in the face of expidiency and efficiency. Fundamental values and the contributions from people with different intellectual abilities are of no value within that framework. Therefore education, like other institutions in late twentieth century society, has become a political activity.
THE NEED FOR RESTRUCTURING
Educators, students, administrators are caught up in this predicament. It is still impossible to make square blocks fit into round holes. Education integration is now little more than a process of putting students with disabilities in classrooms where the structure ensures failure for the majority of them, creating the dilemma that both participating and not participating are disadvantageous. There is an entire body of literature concerned with theories of education and special education; all these works begin with premises that are counterproductive to achieving real equality in the education system.
The education system has, ultimately, helped “educate” society into a form of blindness about how people with mental handicaps enrich and enhance society. Much more creativity is needed if we hope to achieve real learning and real understanding within the antiquated structure of the education system. The system must do more than simply open its doors; it must be restructured to value the contributions from persons with disabilities, from women, and from people with different cultural experiences. Governments will have to commit themselves to that process through the provision of founds. And educators will have to be open minded and innovative in teaching and addressing students. The contribution that people with a mental handicap make to the education system will have to be part of the reconstruction of the education system.
