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Why Special Needs Students Want School Choice | 5 Minute Video

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Every student with special needs deserves a good education, right? So why are so many of them stuck in public schools that can’t meet their needs? Jake Olson, a blind student at USC, explains why school choice is the right choice for students with special needs.
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Script:

The first thing you should know about me: I’m a very lucky guy. The second thing you should know is: I’m blind, and that’s why I’m wearing these. I was born with retinal cancer and, at ten months old, I lost my left eye. At twelve years old, I lost my right. So, why am I so lucky then? I’ll give you three reasons: I have a loving and supporting family; I play competitive golf, which I love; and I’m the long snapper for the University of Southern California, which I love even more.

But there’s another reason why I’m lucky… and that’s because, even though I’m blind, and even though I have special needs, I got a great education. There is six and half million public school students in the United States who, like me, have special needs. Some of them have more serious disabilities than I do; some of them, less. But most aren’t as lucky as I am.

I went to Orange Lutheran, a private high school in Southern California. My school gave me a tutor that was able to help me through Calculus and other Advanced Placement courses. They gave me the same opportunities and expectations as any other student. And now, I go to a great college. But this was only possible because I was born into a family that could afford private school. In California, that’s the only way special-needs students can be assured a good education.

Why? Because in California, and in most states, if you’re a special-needs student, you don’t have any choices. If you cannot afford a private school, you are stuck — in going to the public school that the government chooses for you. I tried that at first, but right off the bat there were problems. All the special-needs students in my district were grouped into one class. Academic ability didn’t matter; interest didn’t matter; it only mattered that you had a disability. Even if I were to outperform other students, say, in Honors Chemistry, I couldn’t take the class with them because I was blind. And this was in Orange County, California – home to some of the nation’s top public schools!

Imagine what it’s like in less fortunate communities. But, thanks to my parents, I had options. So I left the public school and went to a private one.

But what about the millions of special-needs students in middle-to-lower income families? Don’t they deserve the same opportunities that I had? Of course, they do! And that’s why I’m for school choice. With school choice, the money follows the student. Every child receives funding that their parents can direct to the school that best fits their needs: public, private, charter, even homeschool – no one is stuck in a school that doesn’t work for them.

Twelve states already employ school choice programs for special needs students. And it works.

One great example comes from Florida. The McKay Scholarship Program for Students with Disabilities gives kids the choice to attend the public school in their district, a public school in another district, or even a private school. A study by the Manhattan Institute showed marked improvement in reading and math scores for the students in the program. Not surprisingly, this program is becoming more popular. In 2009, 20,000 special-needs students enrolled. In 2015, that number had grown to over 31,000.

For the complete script, visit https://www.prageru.com/videos/why-special-needs-students-want-school-choice

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Tags betsy devosBlindCharter Schooldennis pragerdepartment of educationDisabilityJake Olsonprager universityprageruprivate schoolpublic schoolSchool choiceSpecial NeedsUniversity of Southern CaliforniaUSCVouchers
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41 Comments

  2. I don’t think school choice is a solution to this major problem In matter of fact I have a disability and went to both public and private schools. I was denied basic accommodations in the private schools while I received better treatment in public schools. Hence, the problem is in the teaching methods not the system at large (which we can all agree has massive problems).The solution is simple abolish “SPED” classes and support inclusion programs where all students are able to be in class together no matter if they have a disability or not. That way everyone benefits even people who have not been diagnose with a disability but nevertheless have one.

  3. Wow, a Prager U video I actually agree with. I partially benefitted from public school remedial resource but I would have benefitted more from a program geared to my actual disability: a program that didn't penalize me for penmanship, for example.

  4. As someone who was in the special needs program I relate to this a lot. I was lumped together with other students despite the fact that we had very different issues. I remember being around kids who would get so angry that they did some wild stuff. A couple of them got naked infront of the teachers once the class evacuated, one of them cussed out the teacher, some of them threw a chair or a desk at a teacher, some of them made were violent.

    One day I was at recess during kindergarten and a teacher told me that I shouldn't have a jacket on when it was hot, I remember the material was thin enough to where it wasn't bothering me so I nodded my rejection. A moment later I was looking out of the yards fence, and this kid gave me a bloody nose out of absolutely nowhere.

    Before 2nd grade I would hide under the table when a kid was throwing a tantrum and I only befriended the kids who had social issues, ADHD, ADD, or dyslexia because they weren't completely out of control. To some degree there was a sense of comradeship but there were also those that I would classically call a retard or they were kids you usually don't want to be around. We all had our issues but if we simply were segregated into our similar academic abilities and interests than it would be far better than what it is now.

    I can't tell you how many times a kid would get angry and everyone had to leave the room for about a half an hour and we couldn't do anything but stay in the hot sun. It was pretty cool sometimes because we got rewarded in very few scenarios depending on the rest of the classes behavior, and it's pretty funny looking back on it, but it also reminds me of how much of a joke education is anyway.

  5. So, only special needs students should get school choice? ? ? That doesn't seem quite right. In fact, that seems a bit . . . well, you know. How about every student (or really, their parents) should get school choice.

  11. I'm autistic, although I wasn't diagnosed at 18. I received my education from a normal school, and I was at the top of the year. Many special needs students thrive in a normal school environment, but some can thrive better in an environment with more help, especially autistic students. The smartest people in history have all been autistic. Some autistic people just need help to achieve their full potential, which can lead to them achieving far more than their non-autistic peers.

  16. Here in the UK we go to the school that the government assigns us up until the age of 10/11 and then you get to write a list of schools you want to go to and they go through your list from first choice down and as long as it has a place you should get in to that secondary school, i got my 3rd choice which was Ok. The only rules are that if you have to take a bus to school you must pay for that bus (unless you have a disability in which case they provide a taxi) and that the school you choose must be in the county you live in (unless you have special needs and specify a reason for going to a school in another shire)

  17. I live in Forsyth County Georgia.
    We do not have school choice for elementary and middle school. But in high school, they allow the students to pick their school
    It is weird and confusing especially for eighth graders like me who have to choose what high school they are going to.

  19. OK but this is literally not a solution i know because i'm physically disabled and this happened to me advocating for private schools to take tax money would make this problem worse because i literally did not have the money to go somewhere else, you guys hit the problem right on the head but your solution is an anti-solution, i don't even understand how it would help, you got the problem perfectly but the solution is to restructure public school so what happened to me never happens again not just assume disabled people can afford private schools especially when you don't support subsidized income for the disabled i literally would go from getting a bad abusive education to having no education under this proposition, i wouldn't get a choice anyways, i do appreciate you guys bringing attention to the problem but your solution would help very few people especially disabled people of lower incomes

  22. 1:44 so fycking relatable, I'm stuck in sped classes until I'm 18 all because I was sped in elementary (all my problems are gone now) (I intentionally failed two years so I could have two years in regular education, ridiculous) I have plans to go to college, and I want to have hard classes, I want to have homework to prepare for college, but instead I'm stuck in a class with 4 kids who don't give two flying fricks about learning,
    Literally got a problem "if there were five bugs on a leaf and two flew away, how many would be left?" On a TENTH GRADE MATH WORKSHEET.
    What's worse? One kid didn't even know how to do it.
    Being stuck with these things have made me so intolerant to sped kids, I've lost my patience.

  24. If i was blind i woud be happy that i cant see any horible things in this World cough new sonic movie, but i woud be sad that i coudnt see any great things like the mt Everest (btw if somebody sees this comment and tells him about this, i have question what woud you give for your vision?).

  26. One thing i cant under stand is why are teachers unions against choice for students? I just dont get it. How does choice for students affect teachers?.. The only thing i can think of is that normal teachers dont want special kids in there class because teachers fear that the special kids will give em hell. But weather thats true or not. I dont see that as an excuse.

    Update: Well. Im gonna go back. It came to mynhead but back then. When i was in middle school, i was in a place called issaqua. Now i had a bad case of ADHD, also i was loud. And out of whack. But the thing about issaquah was it was a wealthy place. Yet they were eletist like for wealth. And all the time teachers and princible like figures, not all but most would want to put me in special ed. Specificly the the special ed for kids who had no future. Were at teenager age, theyd need to be put on a wheelchair or couldnt speak or would droul. And as i kinda relize. I was a thing of worck for teachers. And when I see teachers according to prager u not wanting choice for student. I kinda relize that those types of teachers are selfish sloths who dont want to put in effort for those kids. That they just want there job as easy as possible. And the same thing was happening in issaqua. And my mom wasnt really that wealthy wich made the staff at the school try to discriminate against us big time. Apparently if you have no bling. Your just a leech. Or in there eyes. And they trieid and treid to put me in the special ed. Diagnosis ing me with autism. Even at one point they treid diagnosing my mom with it. That ended up getting the phsycoligist fired and replaced who was almost no better. Then at april. I got checked by an actually phsycoligis. And it turns out. I got ADHD. But the point i want to bring is the reason teachers dont want student choice or union teachers dont want student choice is becasue they do want to put up with disabled student. There selfish. Lazy. They dont know what its like to be dissabled or have adhd. And its dissgusting. The wage thing is one thing but limmiting students choice to make a job easeyer. Macking them do a class that there bound to fail. Dissgusting. Those type of people should not allowed to be teachers. There to selfish to be handling the future of a child.

  27. I'm a student with Autism who lives in affluent Rockland County, New York. The worst days of my public school education were in elementary school because I was stuck in special education programs where I was stuck with children who had zero verbal ability and was far behind my peers in social, emotional, and academic skills until I switched elementary schools in third grade to a special education program with children more similar to me. Now I'm a high school senior expected to graduate with 33 college credits from my local community college since I go full-time; high school was crap and not that many people liked me there, probably because most of these kids are a**holes. I also made friends in college that I would've never made back in high school. I honestly wish I went to private school during the late 2000s when I was younger.

  29. I wish I could “like” this video more than once. I have a child who is cognitively impaired. I put our child into the public school. She has not been able to pass very simple standardized tests including the ASVAB test and Accuplacer tests to allow her to enroll in the most basic math/English courses at a local technical training college.

    Yet, my daughter received honor roll status at her local high school with a CORE 40 diploma. Her educators assured me she was learning and “fine.”

    I am now in the process of quitting my job so that I can teach her Algebra I-Algebra II level math over the course of this summer. This is the only way she will be able to attend her technical school. In one week, we have discovered that she doesn’t understand basic pre-algebra concepts.

    Will I be compensated for quitting my job and teaching my daughter? No. Will the school system receive all the funding for not educating my daughter? Yes. Have my tax dollars gone to these institutions that failed my daughter? Yes.

    If you want to help special needs students, let their families decide where the funds are allocated.

  34. I'm a conservative person, raised in public schools. I got a good education. I am concerned, however, about "School Choice." I've seen a lot of pros and cons, and some outright lies by corporate sponsors of some charter schools. For another viewpoint, see https://youtu.be/3HF8iR_GB8A. That video may or may not have a liberal slant, but it definitely picks apart PragerU's statistics and leaves me wondering where the truth is.

  35. I am severely dyslexic, and was forced to attend regular, public schools in the Anoka-Hennepin School District. I was in the EBD program, but I was not diagnosed with dyslexia until one month before I graduated because my IQ was so high, I just took it upon myself to figure out ways of avoiding reading entire lessons so as to boil reading assignments down to just what I needed to know to get a B or a C in most of my classes. When I was finally diagnosed, my doctor sent copies of a letter to my case manager, my school counselor, etc. None of them believed him because they figured my IQ was too high for me to be dyslexic. I have always had a lot of behaviors that can ONLY be explained by a dyslexia diagnosis. So, I don't know what the feeble education and psychology degrees of the faculty at my high school were supposed to have on my specialist medical doctor who diagnosed me. Leftists are about as smart as bricks. Having tested in the superior intelligence range, I still sucked in academics, in part, because my brain damage prevents me from thinking in abstract terms. They don't write math textbooks in all story problems that I can see realistically applying to my life. The first time I understood algebra was after college, when I was trying to figure out something to do with my paycheck. I wish I had dropped-out of high school, right at the beginning, or at least had been given an alternative to the high school I went to. High school was not fun for me; it was highly stressful. I'm STILL so stressed-out by the ways people treat me — on the sidewalk, at Wal-Mart, at restaurants, at Church (ANY church), EVERYWHERE — that my belly is almost as big as both my legs. And while I do have short legs compared to my overall height, it's NOT AT ALL healthy. I'm a dead woman walking. I'm SUPER-BLESSED to have been found by a VERY high-quality man who loves his woman big, but he lives in what is, possibly, The Most Humid state in The Union. And he lives RIGHT BY the Texas border, where they have those gosh-awful ticks, whose bite causes an allergy to all the best meats. I don't know that I can handle being anemic 'til menopause. But I'm sure I'll die young. Since I tend not to get stuff, and because I have a very BAD tendency to give people the benefit of the doubt even when they don't deserve it, I'll probably be murdered before too long.

  36. I am going to be in special education just because I don't freakin like TALKING TO OTHERS well I talk but don't like talking to others in classes like talking to students even my friends so the teachers are doing this to me.

  38. I am a freshman student in high school and I have depression, aniexty, sleeping issues, and more I do not get along with most of the people in my school I only truly get along with others that have the same interests as me, and some of the people that do like the same things as me. They hide their interested and they hide that they are my friend.