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Evam
Deinonychus
Deinonychus

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Joined: 24 Mar 2015
Posts: 309

19 Apr 2015, 4:05 pm

As for the education system one neednt go back to pre-industrial times: Montessori, waldorf education, more teacher-centered teaching, smaller classes are especially good for primary and secondary schoolchildren on the spectrum. The German higher education system 30 years ago was very Asperger-friendly: thorough vocational training schools which diplomas allowed people to aspire for high positions in their companies without a university degree, a lot of possibilities to catch up on grades later; a university system with extremely few compulsory classes and a lot of self-study, the possibility to take - and switch ! - 3, 4 or more subjects, at least in humanities and social sciences, and to study them for 4 to 10 years (or longer) before graduating with (nearly) no real exams to take before graduation, and the Humboldtian model of higher education ("freedom to teach and to study" whatever the teachers and students want).

I think it is the lack of awareness that hinders us from making the necessary changes in the education system, at the workplace and elsewhere. There was more awareness of anthropological differences in the pre-enlightenment period, it got lost in the late 18th and in the 19th century (partly for the sake of egalitarian movements, partly because industrialization led to polarisation). The concept of diversity was somehow rediscovered in a more scientific way through neuro-science, developmental psychology and cognitive science, so what we still need is just a better understanding for how social stress, upbringing and biologic differences intertwine.



evilreligion
Snowy Owl
Snowy Owl

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20 Apr 2015, 9:43 am

Evam wrote:
As for the education system one neednt go back to pre-industrial times:

Well pre-industrial education was, for most people, no education at all! So I agree we don't want to go back to that.

Quote:
Montessori, waldorf education, more teacher-centered teaching, smaller classes are especially good for primary and secondary schoolchildren on the spectrum.

I think it can be but my local Steiner school just kicks out any ASD kids before they can become " a problem". Its quite distgusting really, they don't even bother to try to accommodate them their parents are just told that their kids don't "fit in" and they have to leave the school. But in general I think the smaller class sizes and in particular the delay in the formal teaching of reading and writing until the kids are 6 or 7 would be very useful for ASD kids.


Quote:
The German higher education system 30 years ago was very Asperger-friendly: thorough vocational training schools which diplomas allowed people to aspire for high positions in their companies without a university degree, a lot of possibilities to catch up on grades later; a university system with extremely few compulsory classes and a lot of self-study, the possibility to take - and switch ! - 3, 4 or more subjects, at least in humanities and social sciences, and to study them for 4 to 10 years (or longer) before graduating with (nearly) no real exams to take before graduation, and the Humboldtian model of higher education ("freedom to teach and to study" whatever the teachers and students want).

Probably very true.


Quote:
I think it is the lack of awareness that hinders us from making the necessary changes in the education system, at the workplace and elsewhere.

I would agree but its also a lack of funds. A uniform education and curriculum is the cheapest way to deliver a broad education to most kids. Once we start differentiating to accommodate different neurologies and other needs costs increase. My son, for example, goes to a special school 3 days a week and 2 days at mainstream. In his time at special school he is in a class of 6 kids and there are at least 3 adults in the class at any time. This is what these kids need but compare that to the 30 kids and 3 adults in the mainstream setting and one can imediately see the difference in cost. His special education is far more expensive. Now thankfully I live in a country where the state pays for all this but in other less fortunate countries parents need to shell out extra costs to get their autistic kids educational needs met and those that can't afford it just have to put up with the fact that their kids won't get educated properly.


Quote:
There was more awareness of anthropological differences in the pre-enlightenment period, it got lost in the late 18th and in the 19th century (partly for the sake of egalitarian movements, partly because industrialization led to polarisation).

Maybe. But mostly I think it was because practically no one got a formal education. it was the preserve of the elites.

Quote:
The concept of diversity was somehow rediscovered in a more scientific way through neuro-science, developmental psychology and cognitive science, so what we still need is just a better understanding for how social stress, upbringing and biologic differences intertwine.

Also remember that mass education and "workplaces" where lots of people attend and work in groups are only big features of society in the last 3 or 4 generations. We have refined and improved these relatively modern systems many times but more work needs to be done clearly. I think the neurodiverse are the warning signs as to potential flaws in these systems as these are the kids that are least well served by the uniform approach to education. But for every autistic child that is completely failed by the current system there are probably also 4 or 5 NT kids who are partly failed by it. Having one size fits all is cheap but it means that the system will not serve a significant proportion of the population the autistics and dyslexics are just the extreme examples, the problem is far wider than this.