The Meanings of Inclusive Education Education Book Report

The Meanings of Inclusive Education
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Institution
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The Meanings of Inclusive Education
The initial definition of inclusive education
Inclusive education can be explained to mean an instance in which students from all walks of life are learning side by side. The idea of having diverse students learn in the same classroom is not a new concept. However, it forms one of the most hotly debated and contested ideas with teachers and lawmakers often clashing over the idea of inclusive education. Traditionally, education has been segregated. As Danforth (21) explains, “for more than a hundred years, schools have divided children by age into grades, placed thirty or so into a room with one teacher, and broken learning into subjects.” The division of students at times was intensified with some schools going to the extent of having disabled and struggling students further segregated. The above completely negates the idea of inclusive education as it considers some students different from the rest. At the height of the Civil Rights Movement, segregation was fought and aborted. However, for the disabled and struggling students, segregation continued. Additionally, for the African American students, segregation also continued as most of them are said to attend segregated schools even today (Ladon-Billings, 3). So, for the most part, even though inclusive education was introduced decades ago, it has not been fully achieved, struggles greatly. The reasons for its struggles and challenges are as explained in the subsequent section.
Tensions and challenges related to inclusive education
One of the major issues surrounding or related to inclusive education is the lack of adequate training for teachers. Danforth (16) notes that there has been an “unrelenting increase in the number of students with disabilities in the United States incl...