Before the smart phone disrupted American classrooms (a disruption that is now being contained) the earlier great change in recent decades was what is broadly called “special ed.” Programs designed to address a range of learning disabilities have shifted resources across U.S. schools, for better or otherwise. The subject is an extremely sensitive one for parents of affected children, for naturally, everybody wants their kid to have the best shot. And, these efforts have surely spared any number of youngsters from academic isolation and failure. But the chips haven’t always fallen where a good policymaker might wish. I was reminded of this by a paragraph buried in a recent New Yorker article about freeing early-graders from the trap of dyslexia that might otherwise doom them to miserable lives. (For the usual reasons, a disproportionate number are from poor households.) The passage is reproduced below. Consider the unintended consequences of legislation followed by a sweeping court order. –1/24/26
Tim W. Ferguson 