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How Special Education Is a Prime Example of Our Unhealthy ‘Obsession with Conformity’

February 18, 2019

By: Soyoung Park

Source: The Washington Post

The Supreme Court has lifted injunctions blocking a Trump policy preventing transgender people from serving in the military. The decision grants the Pentagon permission to ban transgender people from joining the military, or in some cases even staying in the military. President Trump has been pushing for this ban since 2017, even though studies indicate that inclusion of transgender individuals would have minimal impact on the military.

The Trump administration’s active discrimination of people outside of the dominant culture is likely not surprising to the American people. President Trump, however, is not the source of systemic oppression; he is simply capitalizing on and perpetuating injustice. Fear of “the other” is something deeply embedded in our nation’s DNA. We need only look at schooling in America to see how ingrained our disdain for diversity actually is.

Our education system is an enterprise designed to “fix” children who do not fit the norms of school. These norms are based on a white, middle class, able-bodied culture. Children learn from a very young age that if they are different — in their behavior, way of thinking, language, etc. — they will fail.

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