I never thought of myself as a utilitarian, but I find that I am becoming one. My state has created a task force to try and convince vocational schools (tech centers), colleges, and universities to develop an educational program for intellectually disabled (speaker's term) persons to attend college classes. Two of my colleagues and I were sent to a one day conference during which the presenters tried to convince us that this is a good idea. Further, the speaker said that if we develop a "meaningful credential" program these intellectually disabled students would qualify for Pell Grant monies and other financial aid (except of course loans). The presenter went so far as to point out that "meaningful credential" is vague enough that we could develop whatever program we like. The hope is that higher education will mainstream these intellectually disabled persons into existing classrooms.
WHAT ARE THESE PEOPLE THINKING??? Oh yeah, right, mainstreaming worked out so well in K-12. I am sure the people pushing this are either the parents of these intellectually disabled persons or special education teachers. I have some concerns: the safety of these intellectually disabled students (especially the females that are easy targets for some unscruplous males); the institutions' liability when something less than desirable does happen to one of these students; the emotional safety of these students when they are unable to perform the way their peers perform; and the classroom changes that may have a detrimental effect on typical higher education students. My question is this: at what point does the 'needs of the many' out-weigh the desires of the few?
