Education should be free for the disabled
There has been much disagreement over children’s education in recent years. A further debate arises surrounding free education or fee-paying education, which should be there for disabled people? My opinion is that education should be free for disabled people. This view is supported by Dr Manoj Kumar (2006), who said, “disabled persons should have free access to education and employment to get them into main stream of the society.” In modern society we should pay more attention to free education for disabled people. Compared with normal people, disabled people need more assistance to support them so that they can participate fully within society. This paper discusses this debate.
Firstly, it is often stated that, “there is no such thing as a free lunch in this world.” This implies that everything in this world should be paid for. Education is no exception to this just the same as we should pay for an ice-cream, house or car. Therefore we can see that if we want something, we need to pay for it. Following this logic, disabled people should pay for their education. Furthermore, pay for the education can show that they are equally from normal people.
Secondly, disabled people whilst they have their own challenges to negotiate, they still have self-respect and should be treated equally. Therefore they should be equally liable for their debts including the cost of education.
Thirdly, by providing free education for disabled people it is increasing the pressure upon the government, society and taxpayers. Accordingly, if governments provide money for free education to disabled education, that then become the economic burden on society and taxpayers. Further, often if they are in a public school, their parents need to pay for private tuition for them. Gubemick and Conlin (1997) stated that, “some of these commentaries contain sharp criticism of private tuition reimbursement, suggesting that resulting awards are undermining the fiscal integrity of U.S. school.”
These are the main factors that are often argued about why education for disabled people should not be free simply because they are disabled.
Despite the fact that some people may think the education for disabled people should not be free. It seems more reasonable to provide free education to disabled people for the following reasons.
M R Madhavan and Ruchita Manghnan (2005) argue that the right to education of equitable quality is there for every child. Government have more power than society and therefore it can more easily achieve free education for disabled people. It is the responsibility of government to let all children go to school, thus government can appropriate money just for disabled education. “Micheal Woods, the minister of education, said that in the past 2 years the government had spent millions implementing a national special education program in the school.” (Karen Bichard, 2001, p.866)
After educated, more disabled people will have skills and knowledge and be able to contribute to their country and government. They will also be able to participate more fully in society and their families. Therefore, it is a good thing for government to make education free and encourage more disabled people to get an education. As proposed IDEA regulations (2007) states, “The Department has proposed regulations to ease bureaucratic burdens, increase flexibility, and assure accountability by states in preparing America's infants and toddlers with disabilities to succeed in school.”
Free education can reduce the burden of the family that has a disabled child to be educated. Families with a disabled child are already financially challenged. They have extra living and medical costs to assist and support their disabled child. “Jamie Sinnott, a 23-year-old autistic man, and his mother, Kathryn, found that the state had a constitutional obligation to provide free primary education for mentally handicapped people for as long as they might benefit from it.”(Karen Birchard, 2001, p.866) The basic of this decision was that reducing the burden on the family is the basic merit of free education for disabled people.
Free education is not only good for disabled people’s future, but also good for the development of the society. We know that more knowledge a disabled people has the more opportunity for them to secure employment. So if society can assist disabled people to get a free education and society supports disabled people’s education, then after they have been educated the financial and other benefits will rebound back to society. As Dr Manoj Kumar (2006) points out, “a cross section of society to extend all possible support to get the disabled persons into the main stream of the society.”
If free education is not provided then disabled people will not have the skills nor knowledge to participate in society nor be employed. If they do not have knowledge, they paralyzed, and this reduces the likelihood of them being able to take care of themselves. If this is the case then they will become the burden of the society. As a result, disabled people need free education to change their life and also participate in society.
Everyone in this world needs others help and support, nobody can live without others help. It follows that disabled people also need help. However, the “help” here does not means that absolutely depend on others. On the contrary, it is important to disabled people to be independent. This means they have to work harder than normal people to achieve this. Adolf Ratzka (2005) also stated that, “Independent Living does not mean that we want to do everything by ourselves an do not need anybody or that we demand the same choices and control in our every-day lives that our non-disabled brothers and sisters, neighbors and friends take for granted.” To reach this goal, disabled people should have education to enable them to take care of themselves and enhance their chances of being independent.
In conclusion, the advantages of education should be free for disabled people are obvious. Firstly, if government provides free education for disabled people that can help them gain more skills and knowledge to contribute their country. Secondly, free education will reduce the burden of disabled family and the society. Thirdly, free education is an important way for disabled people to get knowledge to be independent. Consider a country’s future, free education should be undertaken for disabled people to enhance their life, their families’ life and improve society.
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