[Newspoetry] this isn't breaking poetry

[newspoet]

If Individuals with disabilities can be accommodated in the workplace, how would accommodating them on the High School Exit exam be incongruent with preparing them for that workplace?
(creative rhetorical argumentation)
genisis quote:
"If you say that a student who doesn't have the ability to read or compute can still pass, that sends a message . . . When special ed kids get out of school, they don't go to special ed town, they go out and compete with all the rest of us."
Phil Spears, director of California Department of Education's Standards and Assessments Division. NYT 3/18/02


special ed town
Or the man in the back of the bus is having a utopian 
daydream triggered by something he heard on the news

Everybody rides the bus except 
the bus driver; he drives.  
Nobody tells me to stop 
sneezing.  "Stop sneezing or you 
don't get to go to 
Jack in the box.  Remember 
what we said about the 
city bus."  Bus goes all 
over special ed town.  

I'm competing with you competing 
with you for your job.  
I want to collect the 
shopping carts you collect.  I 
want to sweep the trash 
they let you sweep.  I 
want to bag the groceries 
you love to bag.  I 
want your graveyard shift job
stocking shelves at the Kmart.  
I want to break down 
cardboard boxes for eight hours 
straight, but I know that 
is your favorite job too.  

I'm thinking about taking the 
bus driver out. I'll start 
driving the route I ride 
each day.  

We are taking hamburgers from 
your children.  We buy the 
groceries you want to buy.  
We travel in gangs; you better 
watch out.  We take up 
the whole back end of 
the bus.  

Imagine the damage we could 
do with a diploma, we 
might apply for a job 
at the bank. I know 
they have to sweep sometime.   
I could imagine a job 
that paid me to sit, 
maybe answer phones, or send 
out email.  My friend goes 
to work.  He makes headbands 
for hospitals.  They let him 
sit down while he works.

I would really just like 
to stay home with my 
friends in special ed town.  We 
have a softball team, and 
a bowling league; we are 
preparing to compete with you.  
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