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STA should have a part time program for mentally disabled students

STA+should+have+a+part+time+program+for+mentally+disabled+students

STA should allow mentally disabled young women to attend specific classes on campus, because it would enrich the religious, social and academic lives of both current students and mentally disabled girls. These young women would experience a single-sex classroom, while learning to work together and incorporating their faith into their daily lives.

Offering religion classes would enrich mentally disabled students lives. As of right now, mentally disabled high school students in Kansas City have very limited options to receive religious education. It is not fair to exclude students from learning about their faith in a classroom setting.

Allowing these students to enroll in religion courses will allow them to learn about their faith, and decide what they believe in. Attending these classes in STA’s classroom setting will make their faith that much stronger.

STA provides single-sex education. Many current STA students appreciate and benefit  from this all-girl environment. There are two all-girls schools in the Kansas City area  and neither of these schools offer their single sex environment to mentally disabled young women.

If this environment is respected and revered by so many students and families of STA and Notre Dame de Sion High School, mentally disabled students and their families should be offered this classroom setting too.

Full integration of mentally challenged students at STA is somewhat unrealistic. It is not because it could not happen eventually–it obviously can, looking at Archbishop O’Hara’s Foundation for Inclusive Religious Education program also known as the F.I.R.E. program.

A problem here is that STA is a college prep high school and one of the credentials to be a college prep school is that each student needs to take an entrance exam to be accepted. For this reason, it would very hard to allow mentally disabled students while maintaining a college prep status. It is more realistic to start off smaller and work toward a full-time program.

To incorporate mentally challenged students, STA could initiate a program linked with a special education high school. This program would allow kids from that school to come over to STA during the day for certain activities and classes.

The classes offered would include all religion classes, and most electives. Allowing mentally disabled students to come to STA for dual-enrollment in non-core classes would allow STA to keep its college prep status while still expanding services to mentally disabled girls.

Although many STA teachers believe it is important to involve mentally disabled young women, they also believe it would hinder all students’ learning experiences  They think mentally disabled students would feel too much pressure at STA, and other students would become distracted and feel like they were not getting enough help. 

However, this dual enrollment program would not include core educational classes, allowing a productive classroom environment without the pressure. Also, mentally disabled students participating in this program could each have a teacher aid from their school in class with them. This would let all students have the time and help available they need.

Allowing all types of students to interact in elective classes will teach all students how to work together. It will help students learn in new ways and allow interaction that, without this program, many students would not have.

Students could also come to STA’s campus for activity periods. This would allow all students to experience not only classroom interaction, but social interaction too.

It is essential that the STA community, both students and teachers, begin to work with, interact with and make friends with high school kids that are different from us. Interaction in a school setting would enrich both STA students and high school students who are mentally challenged.

 

Right on Target: Each issue, the Dart asks three people their opinions of the issue discussed in the main editorial. Here’s what they said.

Compiled by Sabrina Redlingshafer

The Question: Do you feel STA should integrate a program with special needs students into our school? Why/why not?

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Picture of Natalie Kilgore

junior Natalie Kilgore: “Absolutely because STA is all about serving our community, ‘neighbor to neighbor without distinction,’ and that applies to everyone. Teens with special needs deserve the opportunity to experience the sisterhood and academics that come with St. Teresa’s.”

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Picture of Meghan King

freshman Meghan King: “I think that it would be good idea to integrate special needs to our school, but it it gets rid of the college prep title, then I think that the administration should decide what’s best for STA as a whole.”

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Picture of Madeline Mullen

sophomore Madeline Mullen: “I feel that STA would be a great community to welcome children with special needs. However, our curriculum is especially difficult so I don’t think STA should integrate with special needs children.”

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