Spec. Ed

Leithelle Productions—MTC UptheAlley

This is more storytelling than a play, but I do not mean that as a criticism. Leith Clark is a great storyteller with a good sense of timing and the ability to extract the key elements of a story.

In Spec. Ed. Clark describes his experience teaching “Special Education”, a program which has had various names over the years, and which describes children who do not fit into the mainstream. Regardless of the motives for naming this group of people, categorization tends to dehumanize any group, and what Clark does brilliantly here is show how individual each person he has taught is, and how special the kids in Special Ed are.

The key difference in dealing with the people Clark teaches is illustrated in the opening scene, where Clark cracks the whip to bring an imaginary group of “ordinary” students into line. With his Special Ed students, however, Clark learns who each student is, and adapts himself to get the most out of each student.

My only qualm about this show is that I wish that teachers would use the same strategy as Clark does with all their students, regardless of their level of academic and intellectual ability.

Kevin Longfield