A modest proposal in four parts

Abstract

Jonathan Swift, Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral, London, wrote a famous essay that I invoke now. In A Modest Proposal, Swift (1729) satirically suggested that, for more Irish to live longer during a current famine, adults should eat their newborns, thus feeding the more able while preventing a population growth that would exacerbate the famine. I, too, wish to make a modest proposal, to justify it historically, and to relate it to contemporary and future issues in special education. Unlike Swift, I am serious, not satirical. Unlike Swift, I do not address a problem of physical famine but, instead, a problem of hunger for a more productive system of education for all students. And, again unlike Swift, I do not expect my proposal to be acted upon, although I believe it has the merit of challenging a conventional approach in education, which is that general education policy should affect, but not be much affected by, special education policy (West & Whitby, 2008).