Regarding the Nov. 15 Metro article "Md. school official regrets word choice":
In Fairfax County, I was told by my daughter’s former special-education principal that my daughter “is not a real child”: “They’re not real children — they’re a kind of children.” This speaks volumes. As the daughter of a career Coast Guard officer, I attended schools in 10 public school systems from New York to Honolulu, and I taught in four, including overseas. I don’t need to be told how to recognize a real child as if I were a country bumpkin or a child myself.
In the changing landscape of the Arctic Circle, as polar bears search for food, visitors to the region are instructed to beware approaching bears. “It’s not the bear you see — it’s the bear you don’t see.” Whether spoken in jest or in earnest, “retarded” and “not a real child” are unacceptable. And what’s in a label isn’t nearly as important as the inference as to how some students are treated behind the closed doors of the classroom.
Helen Hurt Wiech, Montclair