Volume 14, Number 1 (Spring 2001) 3

same time she cautions those involved not to make ety’s response to disability that has so isolated indi-
the mistake of becoming so exclusive that other’s viduals whom we have labeled retarded? How did it
views are shut out. Soto ends her essay with the same come to pass that we have conflated presumed cog-
Chinese proverb that began the volume: nitive incapacity with limited morality? Why is it
Ants can move a mighty mountain. that so few of us have contact with persons labeled
Water can drip through stone. mentally retarded? Where are such people as we ex-
If you do not climb the mountain, you will not see press our commitments to social justice and diver-
the plain. (p. 208) sity?
And climbing the mountain means attention to Schooling Children with Down Syndrome is a power-
love—the understanding of the whole process of ful call to begin to ask questions about citizenship,
life—technique with understanding—the dream- democracy, capacity, and community values, not
space of social justice and equity—and I will teach/ only for people with Down Syndrome, but for all of
live differently beginning now. us. In this elegantly written and persuasively argued
volume, Christopher Kliewer fully articulates an al-
References
ternative version of schooling and community citi-
Delpit, L. D. 1996. Other people’s children. New York: New
Press.
zenship and offers a scathing indictment of our dual
Krishnamurti, J. 1953. Education and the significance of life. New system of education. As a professor of education and
York: HarperCollins. a former special education teacher, Kliewer steps
quite bravely forward to render a careful, but
pointed, argument against the very existence of spe-
Schooling Children cial education. Further, and even more provoca-
tively, the author forces us to reconsider our notions
With Down Syndrome:
of human capacity.
Toward an Understanding Ostensibly, this book is an ethnographic account
Of Possibility of “the cultural meanings of Down Syndrome in the
by Chris Kliewer school lives of children” (p. xv). In actuality, the vol-
ume is much more than that; the book is a call to
Published by Teachers College Press, 1998
build educational communities in which human di-
Reviewed by Celia Oyler versities are viewed as strengths, where teachers see
It continues to startle me how backwards most themselves not as technocrats transferring knowl-
progressive people are when it comes to understand- edge but as creative problem solvers and community
ings related to our fellow citizens with cognitive or builders, and where every student is an active
intellectual disabilities. In contrast, well-meaning learner of democracy, literacy, and human valuing.
white folks know these days to be cautious in their Although much rhetoric surrounds the calls for
assessments and judgments about African Ameri- viewing human diversity as a strength, there is usu-
cans, Asian Americans, Latinos, and Native Ameri- ally little attention paid to people who are seen as
cans. Straight folks are learned enough to take their cognitively impaired. Kliewer shows how students
cues about gay/lesbianltransgendered issues from with Down Syndrome are often viewed and indeed
the insiders. Holistic educators heartily reject stan- act as non-conformists who present challenges to
dardized test scores as valid measures of children’s school systems designed to reward compliance. In
learning or progress. Advocates for social justice uni- the social institution known as school, students’
laterally defend the rights of the marginalized and worth is typically measured “by the degree of their
the oppressed. conformity to established patterns of behavior”
How is it then that in the year 2000 we find that (p. xv). Those who follow the rules, answer the
people who are labeled as “mentally retarded” are
reduced to their IQ scores and other reductionist fal- CELIA OYLER is an assistant professor in the Department of
lacies of human error? What is the history of our soci- Curriculum and Teaching at Teachers College.
 4 ENCOUNTER: Education for Meaning and Social Justice

teacher’s questions, do well on the tests, and keep be successful with the more academic curriculum
their hands and feet to themselves are promoted, if found in classes for the Educable Mentally Retarded.
not praised. Special education is the place for the rest. I was disturbed by the images of animal training that
By drawing sustained attention to the ways that were conjured up for me with the label “trainable”
schools act not only as sorting machines, but also as a and I did everything I could to avoid being placed in
mechanisms of self-surveillance and social control, such a room for student teaching.
Kliewer joins past scholars, activists, and educators The true extent of our society’s misreading of peo-
who use critical theory to critique the institution of ple with trisonomy 21 comes near the end of the book
public schooling in the United States. By focusing as Kliewer presents current research on literacy ac-
specifically on students with Down Syndrome, he of- quisition for students with Down Syndrome. He
fers a unique perspective, bringing to bear a rich lit- foreshadows what were for me startling findings
erature base on democratic schooling and integrated with older investigations from research of the 1950s.
curricula as a counterpoint to the reductionist skills Almost 40 year ago, researchers were speculating
orientation that has been central to special education. that people with Down Syndrome were not necessar-
For readers not familiar with the history of special ily mentally retarded. Kliewer, quite brilliantly, I be-
education, Kliewer analyzes our current dual system lieve, places these findings in the historical context
from both historical and philosophical contexts. In he calls, “The Birth of Advocacy,” and thus signals
this way, Schooling Children with Down Syndrome his book’s membership in the rapidly expanding
would be an excellent choice for an introductory ed- field of disability studies. In this way, Kliewer’s vol-
ucation course as it compels the reader to ask funda- ume is one of the very first to take disability studies/
mental questions about the purpose of schooling, the disability rights directly into the classroom.
hidden curriculum of compliance and conformity, My admiration for this author (whom I never met,
and the essential values that are reflected in school as although we both were at Syracuse University dur-
a sorting machine. Kliewer does not soft pedal is- ing some of the same years) simply skyrocketed as he
sues, and names Chapter two, “Down Syndrome and dropped his main bombshell: Mental retardation ex-
the History of Community Banishment.” Here he ists only as a metaphor. Mental retardation is not
traces the idea of moral inadequacy that has been some material reality that exists within individuals,
conflated with mental retardation to the rise of but is built by doctors and scientists (with the collu-
scientificism and eugenics. It is also in this chapter sion of educators) to explain incompetence. Quoting
that he clearly names the racism that was inherent in from the book:
Dr. Down’s race-based categories of human develop- When one consistently performs as if he or she
ment, that led eventually to the name “Mongoloid” is incompetent, whether it be on tests or on the
for the phenotype associated with trisonomy of the playground, the result is a scientific label of cog-
2lst chromosome. By citing primary research, nitive deficiency referred to as mental retarda-
Kliewer succinctly illustrates how this classification tion…. The label symbolizes a chasm between a
system remained an integral part of understanding student’s manner of performance and that which is
Down Syndrome well into the 1980s. Even as late as valued by schools. (p. 63; emphasis added)
the 1970s, he demonstrates, schools did not try to ed- However, research from the last two decades,
ucate students with Down Syndrome. Kliewer shows us, indicates that people with Down
This excavation Kliewer does recalled for me my Syndrome have significant difficulties with motor
own preparation in special education during the planning, including the motor planning involved
1970s. Public Law 94-142 had just been passed, man- with speech production, and with impulse control.
dating free education for all students, regardless of When taken together, it is easy to see how difficult it
disability. We were told that students with Down’s would be for a typical person with Down Syndrome
Syndrome (as it was then called) were always found to be able to even signal their capacities and inten-
in classes for the Trainable Mentally Retarded. This tions. There is a poignant moment Kliewer relates
was, “of course,” because they would not be able to about a second grader in one of his observations that
Volume 14, Number 1 (Spring 2001) 5

vividly illustrates the research on motor planning have created seemingly designed to keep them busy
that the author reviews. or to teach isolated skills designed by someone,
Lee … was completing a workbook page for a somewhere as stepping stones to the real learning
language arts lesson. He squeezed his glue bot- that will supposedly come later? In this way, Klie-
tle but applied too much pressure, resulting in a wer’s indictment of special education shows us a
glob of glue spread across this desk. He looked caricature of schooling itself: an elaborate machine
surprised, then apprehensive, as he glanced to- built upon utilitarian assumptions of human worth
ward an assistant teacher helping a classmate and capacity.
nearby. Lee attempted to scoop the puddle of Regarding the central findings of Schooling
glue back toward the middle of the desk, Children with Down Syndrome, Kliewer found three
drenching his finders as he did. He promptly broad school representations that he termed the
stuck his hand into his mouth, resulting in an squatter, the alien, and the citizen. Students who
audible expression of distaste that caught the were treated as aliens were denied community mem-
assistant teacher’s attention. Looking over she bership, banished to segregated environments and
cried out, “That is not to eat!” Several class- presumed to be intellectually and developmentally
mates laughed. One wrinkled her nose and said, defective. Such marginalization is one of the organiz-
“Oh, gross!” Lee, who did not speak was unable ing principles of special education, which is of
to explain the situation. Though he had been course, predicated on diagnosing individuals’ de-
working diligently on the assignment, his effort fects and prescribing treatments to remediate the de-
resulted only in a drenched worksheet, an an- ficiency. To this way of thinking, certain human dif-
gry adult, a bunch of disgusted classmates, and ferences are seen as abnormalities that can be objec-
glue dribbling down his chin. (p. 67) tively identified, scientifically measured, and educa-
Kliewer intersperses such powerful classroom vi- tionally treated. Indeed, many of the general educa-
gnettes throughout the book, helping give particu- tors with whom I have worked over the years believe
larity to the rich bodies of research he weaves to- special education is a place where the abnormal can
gether to tell the story of how people with Down be housed together with particularly “special” teach-
Syndrome have been systematically excluded from ers fully prepared to either fix them and send them
much of community life. Indeed, the exclusion of back, or at least work with them to reach their “full-
these students into segregated education is one of est potential.”
Kliewer’s main axes of critique. He minces no words Such marginalization, Kliewer demonstrates over
here and tells us, “Segregation … diverts tremendous and over, works against the very preparation for
amounts of resources toward structuring an existen- democratic living and full participation in civic life
tial location of hopelessness entrapping people that is the right of all citizens. Rather than learning
whose very humanness is in question” (p. 4). He il- literacy skills in the contexts of print rich environ-
lustrates such hopelessness with curricular exam- ments, too many segregated classrooms for students
ples, such as the student whose “functional” curricu- with moderate and severe disabilities do not even
lum consisted of putting together plumbing fixtures teach reading, focusing instead on “life skills.” and
that were kept in a bucket in the corner of the room. condemning students to illiteracy. When my own
Once the student had put the pieces together, the preservice students express doubt about putting stu-
teacher took them apart and the student was to start dents with severe disabilities into general education
over. classrooms, asking, “What does a child who doesn’t
What gets highlighted in such stories is not just the speak and can’t move get out of the regular class-
limits of special education, but also the serious flaws room?” I always counterpose, “As a teacher of six
of so-called regular education. How much of stu- such students all in a room together all day long,
dents’ time do we waste with such make-work tasks what would you do for curriculum and instruction?”
that are mere imitations of productive labor? How They, of course, have no viable answer. Kliewer sums
often do we ask children to comply with tasks we up this issue succinctly. He says: “Students with dis-
 6 ENCOUNTER: Education for Meaning and Social Justice

abilities thrived in the midst of the energy of these As I sat down to read Schooling Children with Down
regular classrooms. Period” (p. 14). Syndrome for the second time in order to collect my
The second location for students with Down Syn- thoughts and write this review, Johnny-Paul Penry
drome in Kliewer’s study was that of squatter. The was scheduled to be executed. Mr. Penry is on death
squatter is given space on the periphery of the com- row, sentenced to be killed by the state of Texas for
munity but is viewed as a community burden: “the his dual crimes of rape and murder. After eating his
squatter represents the struggle for citizenship final meal, Mr. Penry was granted a last minute re-
stalled at the margins” (p. 12). Kliewer does not say prieve, due to his label of mental retardation. This
this, but this is a position created in large part by our case, unlike most of hundreds of other executions in
liberal humanist orientation toward those with dis- Texas, has received much publicity. Journalists are
abilities: It is unfortunate that some people are dis- fairly univocal in their portrait of this particular in-
abled, and so we must be benevolent, kind and pro- mate on death row: “He has no sense of morals and
tective toward them. This sort of orientation toward no sense of propriety; although he is approaching his
disability produces a charity discourse (Oliver 1990) mid-40s, Penry still believes in Santa Claus”
that circulates through such vehicles as the Jerry (Selinger 2000).
Lewis Telethon and the Special Olympics. Children I remain haunted by this case, as the appeal for
who grow up seeing disabled squatters kept within justice for Mr. Penry is predicated upon an assump-
sight, but just out of reach of real friendship and com- tion of his basic lack of humanness. lndeed, it is
munity membership, learn early that certain human against international law to execute a person with
differences are, as Kliewer puts it, “differences that mental retardation as people with this label are pre-
matter.” Such differences, in the case of people with sumed to have “no sense of morals” and “no sense of
Down Syndrome, are believed to convey limits of propriety.” Christopher Kliewer, in his deeply mov-
mental capacity and human worth. ing book forces us to reconsider such taken-for-
The third location for students with Down Syn- granted ideas of mental retardation. Indeed, this
drome that Kliewer found was that of the citizen. In book demands that we abandon all attachment to
vividly drawn vignettes, the author portrays class- science’s claim to measure human capacity. Instead,
rooms in which curriculum is designed around all of we are called to assume capacity and ask, “What do
the community members. Literacy is assumed as a we wish our community to look like” (p. 139)?
centerpiece of such citizenship, and even non-speak-
References
ing class members are taught to read. Participation
structures are created to build upon the students’ ca- Oliver, M. 1990. The politics of disablement. New York: St. Mar-
tins Press.
pacities, thus helping students reveal all that they Selinger, H. 2000, November 21. Death penalty, Inequity for
know, can do, and believe. In such classrooms, all. Columbia Daily Spectator, p. 5.
“One’s human development does not set the condi-
tions for community acceptance; rather, acceptance is
the terrain on which development occurs” (p. 12).
Rather than attempting to “shape disabled children
to look more normal” (p. 13), such community spaces
are built on the premise that the web of community
life is enriched by all members because of their differ-
ences. From this perspective, then, disability is a
point of identity, not of shame. The school’s mission,
from this vantage point, is to bring all young citizens
into full community participation. In Kliewer’s vi-
sion of participatory democracy, schools serve as
central organizing sites for collective agency and cre-
ative, community-based problem solving.