Not Satisfied with a B on your Test? SUE YOUR SCHOOL

[Captain_Nick]

When I received low marks in school it was because I was lazy. When others receive low marks at school, it's because that's the best they can achieve with their limited mental capacities. But it seems that personal responsibility for stupidity is out the door now - if you don't perform to your own high standards, it's your teacher's fault.

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/autistic-student-sues-over-test-20100909-1537o.html

A 17-year-old student with autism is suing the Education Department for discrimination because his teacher refused to modify questions in his maths tests.

Lewis Walton, who received an A-plus in general maths and B-plus in maths methods in year 11, said his scores plunged in VCE specialist maths because his language difficulties meant he struggled to interpret open-ended questions that related to real-life situations.

Ok, he is autistic, so what. He is smart in some ways and retarded in others, just like everyone else. Should I sue the AFL for failing to modify the national draft for me because I am natually uncoordinated?

I struggle to understand why somebody would sue a school for failing to understand the questions on a test. Maybe I should ask this bloke to modify his lawsuit so people with common sense can understand it, and then sue him when he refuses to do so.

 

[thestrangequark]

Actually, it makes perfect sense. The test was supposed to assess his abilities in maths, not language. If the language was getting in the way of his ability to solve the problems then they should indeed be modified. I had a special ed student who had vision problems. He required all his papers to be printed on pink or lavender paper and in a larger font than did his peers, which, of course, we did for him. I could not very well assess his math abilities if I gave him a test that he couldn't read properly! It is the same situation. The boy has a disability and the work should be modified.

 

[Captain_Nick]

Ok, first of all - anyone who knows anyone else, which would be everyone in the world, knows and understands that everyone is retarded to a greater or lesser extent. I for example am hopeless with a football. Others might be useless at social interactions. Some people - shock horror - might even have a hard time with mathematics.

Drawing lines between 'disablity' and 'almost-disability' like that is where the real discrimination is.

 

[thestrangequark]

^You are missing the point completely. First of all, sure, he's less capable in some areas than others (as is anyone else), but the disparity between his levels in different skill sets is indeed great enough to be medically diagnostic as a disability. Secondly, and the real point, is that his abilities in one area should not, in an academic assessment, effect his abilities in another area. He is crap at verbal? let him score C's on his language arts assessments. This should not be allowed to affect his performance on a maths assessment. Regardless of the disability issue, that's just bad testing.

 

[Amaris]

Actually, it makes perfect sense. The test was supposed to assess his abilities in maths, not language. If the language was getting in the way of his ability to solve the problems then they should indeed be modified. I had a special ed student who had vision problems. He required all his papers to be printed on pink or lavender paper and in a larger font than did his peers, which, of course, we did for him. I could not very well assess his math abilities if I gave him a test that he couldn't read properly! It is the same situation. The boy has a disability and the work should be modified.

There was a guy in our Sophomore Biology class in high school who had to read dark yellow paper with large black letters. Nice guy, very intelligent, just had vision issues.

 

[Thestral]

^You are missing the point completely. First of all, sure, he's less capable in some areas than others (as is anyone else), but the disparity between his levels in different skill sets is indeed great enough to be medically diagnostic as a disability. Secondly, and the real point, is that his abilities in one area should not, in an academic assessment, effect his abilities in another area. He is crap at verbal? let him score C's on his language arts assessments. This should not be allowed to affect his performance on a maths assessment. Regardless of the disability issue, that's just bad testing.

I disagree. Without getting into whether or not he should've been required to do those questions (if he's not able, he's not able), from what the article says these questions are testing a very particular skill set. As I'm reading it, those questions aren't strictly about skills with math, but about translating open-ended, realistic questions from language into mathematics. Can't exactly modify them without changing them in a way the destroys the point, so I guess the only thing to do would be remove them.

But then... he's not done the same amount of work or displayed the same skills as other students. So what does that mean? Is this a required class?