Labeling Students

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“Labelling is the ‘old chestnut’ of human taxonomy; The need to slot people, events and things into various categories seems to have been around since time immemorial (Boyle, 2013, p 2)”. The natural human reaction to create order out of disorder is innately impartial, but it can be taken to extremes in which negative consequences arise. “A label is a name or phrase assigned to individuals who share common features and characteristics (Gargiulo, 2015, p. 10)”. Examples of labeling student are the following: “unmotivated”, “slow learning”, “behavior problem”, and “gifted”. Properly labeling students can have positive implications on the student in various ways. Labeling students with disabilities can create opportunities and recourses that exclusive to the group which is categorized. Public Law 108, 446 is an example of labeling as it labels 13 different disability categories. (Gargiulo, 2015, p. 10); Resources include the Individualized Education Plans (IEP), which organizes a plan for the student to receive specialized instruction, accommodations, and other services. Another positive aspect of labeling students is that qualifies students to get services, such as special education, which assist the student to …show more content…

The use of labeling students is instrumental in identifying students, child find, which require extra resources or needs. Government services specially focused on certain labels enable funding and resources to be channeled to the people with the labels. Labeling also extends to the medical sphere; labeling the student’s medical diagnoses help the educator be aware of the student’s needs and can help provide tailor made education plans, or IEPS. Educators need to prepare students to face and overcome labels, categories, stereotypes, and worse that are presented in the real

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