I've thought about it a lot, and I've reconciled at least one thing with myself. The woman who wrote The Tard Blog (http://www.tard-blog.com) is not at all deplorable for doing so. In fact, for giving the general public a unique and candid insight into Special Education, the students in it the bureaucracy that surrounds it, and the teachers in the trenches whose daily strife goes unrewarded, she should, dare I say, be commended.
The blog's author, codenamed Rita Sped, was a 20-something special education teacher at the time the blog was written. To document and destress, she wrote up her more noteworthy experiences in the aforementioned Tard Blog. Tard Blog is not for the faint of heart - and by faint of heart, I mean the unnecessarily politically correct, a.k.a. those with sticks in unfortunate places. As one might guess from the title, there's lots of use of the word "tard," as well as the gamut of curse words and cynical humor. The beautiful thing, though, is that the blog, though insanely funny, is not funny at the expense of the kids.It's funny for its absurdity -- of the situations, of how Rita Sped deals with her kids, and of those who are not handicapped in some way but still manage to act, well, retarded.
Unfortunately, Sped has since retired from her job as a Special Ed teacher -- not surprising, as most Special Ed teachers last maybe a few years, before the constant stress and physical abuse at the hands of their kids gets to be too much -- and has quit writing the Tard Blog. I've got my fingers crossed for another special ed teacher to fill the gap, but I'm afraid that someone with her same sharp writing and unfailing wit will be hard to find.
As for whether or not I'm a horrible, horrible person for finding The Tard Blog funny? Still up in the air.
