Social Inclusion of children with Learning Disabilities in education

What is social inclusion? A question raised recently by Paul Cooper in 2004 and by many other psychologists over time. Is it a synonym for integration, an antonym for ‘exclusion’ or is it a buzz word for politicians and policy makers? No matter what definition you subscribe to it rapidly becomes apparent that various different bodies within education and individuals associated with the educational system view social inclusion – its benefits and pitfalls. Teachers, parents, careers and policy makers have different perspectives, and strong opinions, on the subject.

“If you’re not with us your against us”

 

“If your not with us your against us” or variants of the false dilemma informal fallacy have been used throughout history to various ends. Whenever someone wants to imply that there is a limited number of options, commonly two, when in fact there are a slew of options, it can be found. Biblically Jesus is reported as saying

“He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters.”

and on the De facto side of atheism Lenin (that’s Vladimir Ilyich Lenin not John Lennon before anyone starts singing I am the Walrus…)

“”It is with absolute frankness that we speak of this struggle of the proletariat; each man must choose between joining our side or the other side.”.

Do the Lib Dems just want PR because they would be the main beneficiaries?

I shamelessly pimped my last blog entry on a thread I started over on badscience and recieved this comment from MJRobbins of the layscientist:

“Nice piece, although I would have liked you to have challenged the Lib Dems a bit, if only for the fact that I suspect one of the real reasons they’re so keen on PR is that they’d be the biggest gainers from it (or is that actually another PR myth?)”

Note how I have shamelessly included the praise for my previous post in the quote. Such vanity aside it raises an interesting point – how much does the Lib dems position on PR hinge on ideology and how much on self interest?

What’s so good about proportional representation?

The recent expenses crisis appears to have reignited calls for electoral reform here in ye olde Blighty. Since their foundation the Liberal Democrats have been calling for Britain to adopt the single transferable vote system of proportional representation as opposed to the current first past the post system. In a bid to combat electoral apathy and increase voter turnout as well as combat corruption. At least this passage from the ‘better govt.’ section of the Lib Dem site:-

“We will modernise government so that it serves the interests of all people, not just the vested interests of politicians, corporations or rich donors. Liberal Democrats plan to reform government so there will be no more privileged patronage, no more dodgy dossiers, no more excessive secrecy.”