"Special education" in America is getting a bad rap. And rightfully so. There are parents who are trying to cash in on their "slow" children, demanding that they be tested at school, and hoping the child's "disability" will turn into dollars. Then there's the zoo that is created by dumping students with bad behaviors, autism, academic challenges, and more all into one room and hoping they will all eventually turn out "normal." Won't work. Then you've got the shortage of special ed teachers which means that what was meant to be a help for a child, in the hands of a rookie becomes a disaster area. And we can't leave out the psychologist-dominated team that is coldly recommending that children be drugged up to curtail their behavior, rather than suggesting good God-ordained discipline in the home.
I say all of that because I am a school counselor and case manager in the inner city, and deal with some of this craziness in my line of work. It's very sad. But let's all go on record as admitting that there really are slow children. Emotionally disturbed children. Children deformed in mind and body and attitude. They really do exist and it takes a very "special" adult to deal with them. I've known only a few of these people, but they're out there too.
So why is this North Korea blog going off on all this? You surely must have guessed it by now: With all our mess-ups here, let us be thankful we do not have to deal with special needs children in North Korea. Hyok Kang, who grew up in that strange Kim-ruled society, tells of the fate of the handicapped there. It all has to do with "usefulness", he says in his book, This Is Paradise, which we return to every couple of weeks.
Children with deformities in NK are deported from the main cities, often at birth. They must be cared for by their families because there are no specialists trained to do so. Many see them as sub-human, he says, useless to society. They are not spoken to in the street. They are the "untouchables" at the very bottom of the social strata, the scum.
That is not to say that every parent feels this way about his hurting child. There is often a mixture of feelings within the family. Kang tells the story of one of his neighbors who looked after their mentally handicapped son very lovingly. But one of the boy's uncles took it upon himself to encourage the family to euthanize the child! He lost his argument. But what is it that brings such things into people's minds? Kang suggests that perhaps having a handicapped relative would compromise his career, and bring "dishonor" on the family.
North Korea's unique combination of Communism, Naziism (nationalism), Juche, Confucianism, and what they call Kimilsungism has brought about some very undesirable outcomes. We who have power with God to pull down strongholds and whole nations, when we pray in His will, are asking that the ideas and the very Person of Jesus Christ will be so introduced into the thinking processes of Koreans of the north, that it will be demonstrated in time who the truly handicapped have been.
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