Time for another rant again. Weirdly enough, Michelle ends up in the firing line again. But this is by no means aimed at anyone, indeed if I was in the same situation I would take advantage of the same opportunities, it would be silly not to. But the overall concept is something I disagree with. Here is my gripe. If you have a disability such as dyslexia you get extra times in exams to compensate. And now I’m going to explain why I don’t like it.
Because this means certain people get more time than other people which helps them do better in exams while those who don’t fit in, don’t do as well. Who decides that someone with dyslexia should be allowed extra time to bring them up to everyone else’s standard whereas someone who has, for example, bad short term memory so can’t revise as well doesn’t get extra help. How about someone who isn’t as bright? What’s the difference between having a lower IQ and being dyslexic? Why should you get help for one and not the other?
It’s also unfair on the rest of us. For example, I write a kick-ass essay in my two hour exam. Someone else with disabilities and therefore extra time writes the same quality essay but it takes them two and a half hours. We have the same quality essay and therefore get the same degree classification. So when an employer looks at our CV they find we have the same quality degree. So are we equally valuable to the employer? No, of course not because I can do work that would take them two and a half hours in only two.
Essentially, disability allowances try to level and unlevel playing field. When really it’s just unlevelling a level playing field. A disability such as dyslexia forms part of you, just as the amount of intelligence or how good your memory is. It’s no real leap to begin calling what is going on here descrimination. If you have a disability aren’t can’t do something as well as other people, it’s just that, people need to face up to that fact. I have to face up to the fact that there are people at better writing essays than me or just have a higher IQ than me. We can’t level everyone and any attempt to try would soon decend into a massive invasion of civil liberties.
Anyway, I would love to get comments and thoughts on the subject. I am sure there is another side of the argument, perhaps one I haven’t considered.
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This entry was posted on Friday, June 9th, 2006 at 2:37 pm and is filed under Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.