The way things work around here

The school system is different over here. There are things that are better and things that are worse, but the thing that I hate the most is the way they do special ed. I can't speak for every school, but in my schools it's pretty non-existent. As far as I know there is no such thing as an IEP, there are no special-ed paras or teachers, and there's no differentiation. Teachers are aware of who in their class has trouble learning, but there's nobody and nothing to help the students be successful learning or to help the classroom teachers be successful teaching them.

In English class this is especially frustrating. I have several kids that come in and try to learn, but by the next lesson they've already forgotten what I taught. Then there are kids who don't even make an effort anymore, and really who can blame them? I've got some 5th and 6th graders that still don't know the alphabet. And I wonder if this is the best use of their time. I'm not saying kids should be treated different if they have trouble learning, because that's not true. And I'm not saying language learning isn't important, because I think it is. But it might be a lot more valuable for those students to skip English class and spend extra time studying math, or science, or something they're going to need and use more in their lives. Unfortunately this isn't an option. I don't think it's something anybody would even consider. Every student will attend every class, period.

I've got a 5th grade boy who is so severely disabled. He needs help doing the most basic things, like putting on his shoes. He can't speak, and he's always got this blank look on his face. And he comes to English class every week. He goes everywhere with an "aid." And when I say aid, I mean one of those public service kids. (In Korea every man has to do 2 years of military service, unless they find you physically unable, then you do 2 years of public service somewhere.) I'm so angry for this child. He can't even speak Korean, there's zero reason for him to be attending English class. They should be teaching him life skills instead of wasting 80 minutes of his time every week.

It's not even that the system is broken, there's not a system in place. So many kids at my schools are falling through the cracks because there's nobody to help them. I know the classroom teachers want their students to learn, but when nobody has taught you how to deal with different types of learners and there's no extra support, there's only so much you can do.