Fact or Opinion?

Some of our group statements:

-Most truths come from personal experience. 

-The rest comes from accepting knowledge from an expert. 

-There are grey areas between right and wrong in some topics. 

-Facts and evidence change over time. 

I've thought a lot about how my personal experience in the field of Special Education and just generally with Special needs people has affected my perspectives. I was talking to one person who was telling me that Special Education was a drain on funds in schools, especially for the students who could never become productive members of society. Of course I immediately thought he was wrong, but I've thought a lot about his opinion. I really want to teach Special needs students after college, so hearing that he thinks that what I think is one of the most important jobs is sort of irrelevant to helping society was a huge shock, and I was offended. I tried to think about why he had that opinion, when I thought the absolute opposite. I realized that he placed the good of overall society above the good of a single individual. There's no way to argue whether one of us was "righter" than the other. 

I had this in mind when we went over "How do you know?" I knew coming into class that people have very different opinions on things that no one can be considered right about. Other things might be religion, money, politics, music, or even sports. 

When I go out and do research at SSD and interview one of the directors, I know all this will be swimming around in my head. I'm going to make sure that at least half of my interview questions are answerable in facts, so I can have academic, irrefutable information to add to my research. But I also want to ask questions and see how the director feels the system is working, in her opinion. Then I was also hoping to go around Tech and see if I believe everything she said, or see what my opinion differs on. I am certain she believes Tech is doing everything it can do provide services for the disabled. But I also heard a Tech student actually say that Tech is one of the worst schools she's ever seen regarding accessibility for the disabled. Although I will mostly be researching services for physically disabled students, I might also bring up services for students with ADD or other kinds of disorders. I read in a magazine one time about how some colleges are creating special services for students with autism, to allow students with mild autism to attempt a college education. 

I know I'm biased and think that services for Special needs students are imperative, but I will go into my research trying to think of all the students at Tech and how the cuts in budget affect them as well. I think my library research will be more important in finding out facts, but I think in this case the opinion of the director might be very important for my research as well. It's time to find out how well Tech is doing in taking care of all its students equally.