The Special Education Silo

I used to describe special education as a field – as in “the field of special education.” And indeed, it used to be a field. You can see this field when reading articles from the major special education academic journals in the 1990s and early 2000s. It was a field. Not a farmer’s field but a field in the wild. This kind of field is a beautiful place. It is an ecosystem, with birds, other animals, and a wide variety of plant life. And a field in the wild is not contained. It changes over time as new seeds, plant life, and animals interact with it. The edges of the field evolve and change over time.

. But special education is not a field anymore; rather, it has become a silo.

A silo is a container. It contains silage. Silage is a type of fodder given to cattle and sheep during the winter when grazing is not possible. It is made from grass, corn (maize) oats, hay, and other types of foliage that has been cut up into little parts. This vegetative matter is put in the large, vertical tube known as a silo, compressed to get all the oxygen out then allowed to ferment. The result is a form of pickled pasture matter that is all jumbled up and all looks the same when it comes out. Cows and sheep eat it without question