Empathy is a side lesson, doc, not the primary one, but its still not a bad one to get in situations detached from one's parents and like it or not as long as children will be with someone other then their parents for 7 hours a day they are going to learn about behavioral lessons from someone else(and I would consider teachers a part of a child's 'immediate community' when they spend so much time with them).
We will have to agree to disagree......I can only speak from my experience, but it seems that when "empathy", and "self esteem" became common phrases in our educational system, kids began graduating from HS without the ability to read, or make change in a business environment.....
I think that there is certainly a place in the educational system for children with disabilities....
so long as they do not interfere, in any manner, with the progress of the class as a whole. If a teacher is spending an inordinate amount of his/her time attempting to control/coach/lead/compensate several "special needs" children, and the remainder of the class is sitting there waiting for the next set of instructions in order to progress, the class as a whole is being deprived of their due.
I have no problem with classes for special ed kids, but I have a BIG problem with "mainstreaming", in its various permutations....I've seen it in action, and to an extent, the normal kids are getting robbed.....
Instead of empathy in the classroom, I would expect teachers to spend that time on
discipline.......
doc