Mississippi Spends a Lot on Special Ed

Mississippi actually devotes a lot of its education budget to special ed. Now I know why. Today I substituted for a special ed teacher, and found out that two of the students are in that class because they have been in accidents on four-wheelers. These are dune buggy type vehicles that seem to be popular here - to ride in the mud, on fields, etc. They can go almost as fast as a car - and of course I have never seen anyone riding one with protective gear. One of the students said he'd gotten into accidents three times, one of which left him in the hospital, and the other said he got hit by a car while riding one - which put him in a coma for several days and left him with brain damage. And these are 7th graders. Meanwhile, all of the students discussed the SEVERAL guns they own and how they regularly shoot animals in their yards - also 7th graders. They were, of course, shocked to hear that I - a woman of 44 - have never even touched a gun in my entire life.