teachers' vs. parents' responsibility

I was fortunate to go to public school at a place and time when I had absolutely no idea what my various teachers' political and religious views were--I guess they were more focussed on preparing us for college and careers.  I would rather let the parents decide how they choose to impart religious and political values to their children and I can concentrate on teaching academic subjects without shaming or criticizing children whose cultural views I happen not to share.  (Full disclosure--while growing up I went to a mainline Protestant church (rarely, if ever) and in school we studied standard-issue evolution in Science, so I never had to deal with a predominantly Fundamentalist Christian community, and do not subscribe to those views.) What I find more troubling is the smug, condescending attitude of some in the field of education to anyone who happens to disagree with them on any subject.  Teachers are definitely in a position of power and unfortunately, this power is misused all too often.  Ideally, I would like to model the behavior of teachers I had in school (prior to college) and work toward preparing my students for success, rather than imposing my personal political/religious views on them.

Thoughts on inclusion

After the last class I was interested to learn more about inclusion and the various laws and possibilities surrounding this issue.  One thought that occurred to me was the question about resources to help teachers with special needs students.  Are there some states that require all licensed teachers to have a Special Ed endorsement?  What provisions are made to offer teachers the extra help they may need in the classroom?  I know that some children have one-on-one assistants that accompany them throughout the day, but I don't think this is universal.  Are educational assistants given the option to receive special training to address the needs of these students?  Another thought that occurred was who is the final decision maker of which students will be best helped in a regular classroom via the I.E.P.'s and so forth.  I know that various lawsuits have been launched and some favor the parents and of course others favor the school system.  Due to the wide spectrum of special needs children what is least restrictive for one will be quite different from that which is least restrictive for another.  At any rate, it is a very interesting area for research.  I did feel sympathy for the teacher in the video who was clearly upset and I got the sense she was not getting the support she needed re: the above.