The Special Education Story: Obituary, Accident Report, Conversion Experience, Reincarnation, or None of the Above?

The future of special education might be captured in a variety of stories, including an obituary, or the report of an accident, a conversion experience, a reincarnation, or some other description not captured by any of these.Alternative story lines are suggested.Some educators have suggested that the "specialness" of special education should be downplayed and that special and general education should be integrated (e.g., Goodlad & Lovitt, 1993).However, this suggestion is incompatible with viable special education in the light of Goodlad's analysis of teacher education (Kauffman & Hallahan, 1993; see also Goodlad, 1990).Moreover, it is contrary to Meyen's (1998) observation that if restructuring results in a loss of identity for special education, it is a mistake.Trends in education reform and numerous newspaper stories about special education reveal serious problems in current practices and intimate that the future of special education is uncertain.A case in point was a story in The Washington Post on Thursday, May 20: "Janney Principal to Head D.C. Special-Ed Program" (Strauss, 1999).