The Other Press

 

September. ... 23rd to 30th 1982

 

    

 

 

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Culbacks Affect Special
Needs Students

by Richard |the asshole| Moore

Special Needs Students
are students whose educa
tional needs require extra
attention or they are stu
dents whose mental or phys
ical handicaps prevent them
from having complete person
al autonomy. .

Although there are med
ical and behavioural defini
tions of Special Needs Stu
dents, I am not willing to
accept those definitions as
difinitive. I believe that the
educational and social defini
tion which I have given is a
workable one within an aca
demic setting.

As a teacher, it is the
academic setting which I am
concerned with. In particular

I am concerned that in
this time of economic crisis,
Special Needs Students’
needs will not be fully met.

- There is evidence to sup
port this concern.

Special Needs Students’
education programs and
their accommodation in an
academic setting require a
higher. per capita funding
allocation. When economic
conditions are ‘‘normal’’

there is usually adequate
funding made available to
meet these higher per capita
costs.

Under ‘‘cut back’’ econom
ic conditions there is not
adequate funding. This cre
ates a crisis for Special
Needs Students.

From my discussions with
administrators who deal with
Special Needs Students at
Douglas College, I have

learned that the crisis is
being dealt with in an admir
able way. Students who were
enrolled last spring in Spe
cial Needs classes are (with
some exceptions) continuing
with their courses this fall.

The crisis, however, oc
curs for those new Special
Needs Students who want to
begin courses at Douglas or
at other community colleges
in B.C. The ‘‘cut back’’
economic conditions actually
prohibit many of these new
students from beginning
classes.

In some exceptional instan
ces, the ‘‘cut back’’ econom
ic conditions create seem
ingly impossible or insur
mountable barriers for contin
uing students. I know of one
such student whose lack of
complete personal autonomy
prohibits her from coming to
classes without an assistant
to accompany her. If funding
for the assistant is not made
available, she will not .be
able to attend Special Needs
classes, even if she can
afford the registration fees.
Assuming that she wants to
attend classes with her tor
mer classmates, admini
strators and teachers must
find a means to fund her
special needs.

Throughout-the province,
these kinds of crises are
occurring. Those who cate
must ask WHAT IS BEING
DONE TO MEET THE CUR
RENT NEEDS OF SPECIAL
NEEDS STUDENTS?

 

 

 

 

 

In reference to your recent-
article ‘‘Men at War’’, I
could not help but feel
nauseated by the inference
that men lie at the heart of
war, power, and conflict and
that their ‘macho’ ego is
responsible for societies
problems concerning war.
However, we are reminded
of the old saying; ‘‘Behind
every great man, there is a
woman’’.

Everyone has heard of
Cleopatra, ruler of ancient
Egypt and mistress of Ro-
man Emperor Julius Ceasar,
but do we know of her
predecessor, Queen Hatasu?

She is portrayed in her
monuments in male garb and
a beard. According to histo-
ry, she was a mean one.

In the Far East we come
across the Japanese Em-
press Jingo, who, in the
fourth century, performed an
abortion to rid herself of her
baby; a week later she was
leading her invading armies
into Korea.

The Chinese Empress Wu
Tse-t’ien ruled from 655-705
A.D. after she deposed her
sons. She eliminated the
military aristocracy, fortified
her frontiers, repelled the
Khitan and Turkish armies,
and conquered Northern Ko-
rea.

The famous Joan of Arc
donned male attire and, in
1429, turned the tide of the
Hundred Years War in Eu-
rope by defeating the En-
glish.

In England, Queen Eliza-
beth I warred on the Catho-
lics, the French, and twice

XN

 

 
  

‘Women War Too

defeated the Spanish in bat-
tle from 1558-1603. She also
had her sister, Mary Queen
of Scots, imprisoned, and

tinally executed.

Queen Anne similarily de-
feated the Spanish from 1702
to 1714..

In Russia, the Empress
Elizabeth ruled from 1741-
1762 after she had disposed
of the Emperor. She rid

~ Russia of all Germans, and

waged war on Prussia;
defeating it in the Seven
Years War.

Catherine the Great, the
imperialistic Empress of
Russia from 1762-1769, mur-
dered her husband to claim
his throne. She destroyed
the Turkish armies in two
wars, annexed the Crimea
causing future wars with
England, partitioned Poland,
and began colonization of
Alaska.

Queen Victoria, Queen of
England from 1837-1901 and
Empress of India from 1876-
1901. An ultra-imperialistic
ruler, she fought in India,
the Crimea, and South Africa
enlarging the British Empire
to its greatest extent.

The xenophobic and ty-
rranical, but loveable, Chin-
ese Empress Dowager Tzu-
h’si (1834-1908) ruled at the
end of the Ch’ing Dynasty
after she had deposed her
nephew. She encouraged
the Great Boxer Rebellion of
1899-1901, and lived to see
her empire carved up be-
tween the Western Powers
after two costly wars.

These are all past exam-
ples, but without a past there

 

    

is no present. Here are a few
more up to date women.

Former First Lady of South
Vietnam, Madame Ngo Dinh
Nhu, was notorious for guid-
ing her husband’s hand in
rule trom 1954 until the
Saigon Coup of 1964 when
her husband was killed.

‘ The infamous widow of
Mao ZeDong, leader of the
People’s Republic of China
from 1949 until his death in
1976, Jiang Qing led the
‘Gang of Four’ who terror-
ized China from 1966-1976.
She led the Red Guards
during the Cultural Revolu-
tion and had a hand in the
killing of more than 35000
people during this period.

. The Indian PM Indira
Ghandi was in power from
1966-1977. She defeated Pa-
kistan in war and opened ties
with the USSR while ignor-
ing the US. She was found
guilty of electoral malpract-
ise and of the imprisonment
and execution of over 700 po-
litical opponents. Regard-
less of this, she was re-elect-
ed in 1979.

Today, the the Chinese
Communist Party Central
Committee, there are many
leading women. Among
them, Wei Feng-ying, Wu
Kuei-hsien, and Lu Yu-lan
who would not hesitate to
take up arms against an
enemy if need arose.

Finally, Margaret Thatch-
er, who, in 1979, became the
first British woman PM. She
has taken a firm stand a-
gainst the IRA and renewed
the notion of ‘Glory Through