Self-Determination and Quality of Life: Implications for Special Education Services and Supports

The United States is engaged in a debate concerning the efficacy of the public school system and about reforms to address the perceived inadequacies of the current system. This is not a new debate or a unique time in the history of education, for such debates ebb and flow as society's understanding of and emphasis on the purposes of education change. We say "purposes" in plural form intentionally, for despite overheated rhetoric to the opposite, the educational system has always had multiple purposes, from learning for the sake of knowledge itself to preparation for employment and citizenship