The Exclusion Principle

The Pauli exclusion principle is a quantum mechanical principle formulated by the Austrian physicist Wolfgang Pauli in 1925. In its simplest form for electrons in a single atom, it states that no two electrons can have the same four quantum numbers; that is, if n, l, and m_l are the same, m_s must be different such that the electrons have opposite spins.(Wikipedia). In "real" language, the principle means that two electrons cannot be in the same place at the same time. 

The public school model has taken the opposite approach - to force inclusion. It is now the law of the land that anyone deserves the least restrictive environment. In theory, this is not a bad thing. In practice, it is the single most important issue running new teachers from the classroom. New teachers have a whooping attrition rate of 3 - 5 years.  It is extremely difficult to handle 25+ personalities and teach the subject all at the same time. This is certainly not a profession for the lighthearted.

Nature takes care to preserve harmony. But, we come along to "include" kids that really don't belong together. Having the right chemistry in a classroom means everything toward being successful. despite all the data, schools continue to force teachers into designing methods that include all lines of thinking, while operating on the least amount of resources.

Teachers are often asked, "What can we (administrators) do to help?" Are these rhetorical questions or are they really able to provide? In this economy, my best guess would be that the questions are primarily a matter of courtesy. Now, I must make it clear - I am about educating the whole child. 

Discrimination, in any form, is wrong.

What teachers find difficult is a room filled with special needs in a so-called regular classroom. What wins up happening is that disruptive students sap the life out of the room. The way the structure is set up, it's very hard to remove the disruptive child because of the special needs laws. Teachers are required, by law, to "handle" the situation. In other words: deal with it. Hence, the other students may receive a diluted education. The system spirals out of control and the powers that be sit in wonderment.

Accommodations must be made for the good of the whole. If a child is disruptive, special needs or not, that child should be removed for the safety of the other individuals. Some people that I have spoken to claim that it's not easy to do that. As a response, I ask the question: what are waiting to have happen? Sometimes lessons are learned too late. I think there's something to be said about the exclusion principle. Even nature understands that each "thing" has its own space.

I seldom like to leave a challenge without offering a solution. In the legal sense, parents have pushed for their children to be mainstreamed. Too often, children who are "different" are discriminated against. That is wrong. The students who are being referenced here belong to a group who have "played" the system long enough to gain protection under the guise of "special needs" who do not deserve the services. Or, they are students who have been misdiagnosed. How are these students identified? Last year, I had a student classified as dyslexic. Right before class started, he took out his phone to read out loud (very fluently) a text message he received. Before I began to enforce the "no phone rule," I asked him to read it again. He did. For years, he had been relying on the dyslexic special services. He is an African American male who was probably diagnosed too early and he was never retested. On another occasion, I attended a "special needs" meeting for another African American high school student. As the meeting progressed, I noticed that the young man gazed very intently on people's lips as they spoke. One of the teachers to his right called him to answer. His face happened to be directed to the person on his left. He eventually turned his head because he "felt" that people were still talking. I asked for permission to speak. Once acknowledged, I told the diagnostician that the child could not hear. Everyone looked so surprised. It took about 10 minutes to observe this. Needless to say, the meeting was being held because the child was a severe discipline problem in the classroom. I don't need any flowers thrown at my feet (as my grandmother used to say). The point is that the laws have tied our hands to the point that children are not being served to the fullest extent. And, when the problems are discovered, it's almost too late.

One thing for certain - we can't fight nature! With that in mind, my hope is that teachers no longer have to leave a profession that they are truly called to do.

Every child deserves to be taught by a gifted teacher.