Keeping your Expectations the same....

Being in and out of a classroom all semester has opened my eyes to a world of low expectations when it comes to teaching? What happened to living in a world where you were pushed till you were about to break, but the reason they pushed so hard is because of the strong belief teachers had in you to succeed? This semester I was in and out of many different classrooms, and I'm ashamed to admit that most teachers bypass those students who have any type of disabilities instead of embracing them. While doing different service hours I was told by countless teachers, "oh don't worry about that one, he/she is slow, so we just let 'em do their own thing." I think the first time I heard that my eyes about popped out of my head. I was bewildered to say the least. What are we teaching our peers and our students if we don't take the time and create high expectations for all of our students? Just because a child has a learning disability doesn't mean we as educators have the right to pass them off like they don't matter. It is our responsibility and should be our privilege to educate them and hold them to the same high expectations we hold all of our other students too.