by Mark Mylod

Created on: August 14, 2008

Inclusion: A Right,not a Privledge!

There are many controversial issues that surround inclusion from its ambiguous definition to its application in the educational arena. It is important to take a look at the historical aspects that gave rise to the term inclusion to fully comprehend its application in the educational community today, but first it is imperative to review some the recent educational shifts in our society and how the courts have paved the way for further understanding.

The American education system has had a history of excluding individuals from attaining an education based on socioeconomic status, ethnicity, gender, religion, and disability. It has been through various social, economic, political, and judicial reforms that have shaped our present educational system and now include everyone. For well over three hundred years, the disabled individual was seen as different from the rest society and treated accordingly. They were ostracized from society and placed in institutions or stayed at home and sometimes neglected. Most people did not have any understanding of the disabled individual or how to treat them, let alone educate them.
It was in the 1950's, lawyers for a little girl named Linda Brown would forever change the landscape of education when asked that she be allowed to attend a white schools in Topeka, Kansas attacking the legal doctrine "separate, but equal" (Orstein & Levine, 2000). In 1954, the United States Supreme Court in a landmark decision with Brown v. Topeka, Board of Education set a precedent stating that education must be made to everyone on an equal basis. Although the main purpose of the case was to end racial segregation, it would have far reaching implications and open the doors for disabled individuals seeking their rights for education. The United States was in the Cold War at this time and when the U.S.S.R. launched Sputnik in 1957, an increased intensity and pressure was put on education and more importantly in the content areas of Math, Science and Foreign Languages. The National Defense and Education Act (NDEA) was established in 1958 to keep the U.S. competitive with a threatening adversary such as the U.S.S.R. During the Johnson Administration, Congress passes the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the President signs the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) in 1965. The focus of Johnson' s War on poverty was to bridge the significant gaps between the "haves" and the "have-nots" which had totally different intentions

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