Treatment of Mentally Challenged Children

As I am sitting in high school study hall, I am constantly appalled by the way mentally disabled or slow children are treated - exactly like animals. They have no choice but to listen to their peers order them around like dogs. The tone of voice from these teachers sound angry and certainly uncaring in the least bit.

Here are a few orders I've heard from their supervisors:

- "Hug her.....I said hug Her...HUG HER NOW!"

- "[Teacher to teacher] He's trying to cause trouble again!"

- "Lets go...Nate, lets go...I said, LETS GO NOW!"

- "Do your work. Did you hear me, I said do your work!"

- Teacher: "Want to go visit _____?"

Student: No

Teacher: Lets go (In a sick voice as if beckoning a dog to sit)

Student: Leans unconfortably

Teacher: *Repeats the same sick line over and over again*

These are mentally retarded HIGH school students. Why should they be treated like 5 year olds? Shouldn't they be given an oppritunity to fend for themselves? About the teacher forcing a student to HUG another teacher! What the heck is this??? Even 1st graders aren't forced to do that! The constant unfriendly repetition of "COME HERE" or "DO THIS" really adds to the sinister tone of these uncaring teachers.

This raises questions on the nature of treatment in society. Essentially, the smarter a person is, the less they are controlled. These children have no free-will much like a cat or dog. I think even an animal has more rights them them - an animal may choose to take a walk, eat, explore, etc, but these children are under constant surveillance. Any deviation from the social norm gets them in trouble.

People may say, why shouldn't they be supervised? - they can't fend for themselves. I'm not against this, but the point being that they are treated so badly, it's like a master to slave relationship. At least give them SOME choice.