Wall Street Journal on rampant growth in percentage of college students with “disabilities”
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Anonymous
Could it be a change in methodology? Perhaps in 2014 they didn't include those who suffered from a mental illness. I don't see how you'd suddenly get a 4x increase in demographics in such a short time otherwise- Pomona's student body and academic stats haven't changed much (if anything, the school has gotten even more racially and socioeconomically diverse than it was in 2014). |
Anonymous
If anyone was curious about what disability accommodations look like specifically from Pomona: https://www.pomona.edu/accessibility/student-accessibility/accommodation-services
Here is the form students fill out: https://www.pomona.edu/sites/default/files/disability-request-for-services.pdf and the one professionals do: https://www.pomona.edu/sites/default/files/disability-documentation-form.pdf I find it strange that the student form asks- "What accommodations do you need?" Shouldn't this be to the judgement of the professional solely? If the student form is the primary way accommodations are assigned, the potential for abuse is significant. A further look at "tips for accommodations" gives far too much leverage, IMO, for students to create accommodations as they WANT rather than as they NEED (or as is reasonable). https://www.pomona.edu/accessibility/student-accessibility/accommodation-services/how-make-most-your-academic-accommodations Pomona's Common Data Set states that 94% of entering students ranked in the top 10% of their high school class. Their profile states 27% of enrolled students ranked valedictorian. Pomona seems to bend over backwards to accommodate students that I could not imagine happening at any high school. Those students clearly thrived academically- most without needing accommodations in the first place. They're not suddenly going to come into college unable to handle the lifestyle or workload. The reality is that Pomona needs to take a long hard look on the ease which it allows accommodations and ensure that the students who genuinely need them are getting the bulk of the resources. |
Anonymous
Not really, everyone has a different mix of strengths and weaknesses and different accommodations do better with different people. By the time a student reaches college, they usually have an idea of what works for them, at least my DC did. Just because two students have the same diagnosis does not necessarily mean that it manifests the same in both students. There are spectrums of variation in each diagnosis and many different combinations of co-morbid issues. My DC is not at Pomona, but he has almost the same accommodations in college as he received in HS. The list shown for Pomona looks like a general boilerplate of what should be done in all colleges and universities to comply with ADA. That said, I have no experience with emotional support animals. |
Anonymous
It's also disgraceful that there are those who are gaming the system and making it much more difficult for those who truly need the services. I also think some of those issues/disabilities should be considered when applying to graduate schools. Do you want a surgeon who has difficulty reading/writing and is also extremely anxious? |
Anonymous
I don't think people mind when the disabilities are real. They do mind that there is abuse of the system. They don't mind when a blind person has a guide dog or someone with PTSD from service in Afghanistan has emotional support dog. They do mind when someone spends $50 for a fake emotional support certificate to take their pet ferret (or camel) on the plane https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bz8bqJaKeKk or rich parents spending thousands for a fake diagnosis so that their kid gets extra time on the SATs https://www.thedailybeast.com/faking-adhd-gets-you-into-harvard or college students fake ADHD to get Adderall. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mouse-man/201007/new-study-claims-it-is-easy-fake-adhd As long as these things are allowed to occur, it undermines the case of people with real needs. |
Anonymous
[vimeo]
Isn’t one way around this to drop a final exam in favor of a take-home? Either a paper or take-home final? |
Anonymous
Do you need extra time to work this out? |
Anonymous
| I think anyone should be able to get an6 accommodation. And that should be noted on their college transcript. That way I as an employer can make a judgment about whether it makes sense for me to employ them. |
Anonymous
This post is telling the real story. There is no push back from colleges and universities against a flood of people requesting disabilities on questionable grounds. Also, parents these days want their kids to have it as easy as possible. Gone are the days when it was considered character building to have to tough it out yourself. Of course, there are students with genuine disabilities who should be accommodated, no one is arguing against that. The rampant cheating of the system hurts these kids though because most reasonable and ethical people are cynical about the accommodations especially the extra time on SAT and ACT. |
Anonymous
Except in this thread we have people telling those with disabled to go find their "niche" [that isn't in college]. We have lots of shaming language directed towards anyone who uses and accommodation, including calling them disgraceful. Your starting assumption is that you should be arbiter of what constitutes a "real" disability. You want to focus on abuse of the system yet until very recently people with very disabilities were unable to get reasonable accommodations. Children with learning disabilities are still left unidentified and failed out of school. Children with identified learning disabilities are still not provided with scientifically backed learning methods and then called "lazy" or a "behavioral problem" when they still don't catch up when provided with more of the same methods that don't work. You only care about abuse of the system because it doesn't affect you at all that bright kids with a lot of potential are short changed. Personally, I'm delighted to know a pair of brothers with ADHD and dyslexia who are doing great in the engineering program at their chosen university. What's even more marvelous for me is out confident they are in themselves that they can talk about their challenges and how they overcome them without the shame people like you want to place on them. |
Anonymous
About 7.5% of SAT test takers receive accommodations. That is lower than the percentage of students in H.S. who receive accommodations. Whatever cheating is occurring can hardly be called "rampant". |
Anonymous
+1 to the PP's response to the question. To the PP who asked the question, think of it this way. Reasonable vs. unreasonable aside (surely the college should make the call), the student is being asked to take responsibility for his/her own learning. Down to being able to name the details of how they plan to learn, and in which class. For many students with disabilities, and for several researched and documented reasons, self-advocacy is already hard. Harder than for the average student. But in an age of helicopter parenting, we should all welcome putting this burden onto the student. |
Anonymous
You are ignorant person. Psychological tests measure processing speed, not ACT or SAT. My child has slow processing speed and low working memory. But my child with support is finishing MS magnet and will go to HS magnet next year. Should my child not go to college? There is no way my child will take SAT or ACT without extended time... No way of any college, even CC without accommodations. However, you have to know what kind of solutions and approaches child uses when solving some problems. I periodically literally open my mouth. I can't do it that way even with several advanced degrees and no LD. He just thinks differently. No any single person who works with my child ever question that he belong where he is . |
Anonymous
The free "market" will sort all this out by declining to hire Pomona grads, then smart students and their parents will revolt and demand standards. Smart students won't allow the devaluation of their hard won credential (the diploma) by the allowance of practices (e.g. excessive accommodation) that are not respected by prospective employers. The same problem afflicts POC who are the beneficiaries of affirmative action - people rationally question whether a POC doctor is capable or a beneficiary of "special accommodations". Of course there are many capable and even brilliant POC doctors (e.g. Ben Carson) but their achievement is called into question by the practices of affirmative action. Meet the standard, don't lower it. |
Anonymous
Guess what. I have a child with a legitimate IEP, and I think that inflated disability claims do NOTHING to help him. It only makes people more skeptical of disability rights in general. |