Unfortunately he was probably mainstreamed into a regular classroom without adequate supervision or, quite frankly, protection from the other kids.
Look, if a kid can't keep up with the rest of the class, if they have trouble grasping concepts, even if they have a physical disability instead of a mental or developmental one, it will become glaringly obvious to everyone, including the kid, that they aren't the same as everyone else. While that doesn't
have to be cause for derision from their fellow students, as a rule, kids can be very cruel to anyone who doesn't fit in. Not saying all kids are that way, some will 'make a place' for those who are a bit different and protect them, but others will viciously attack.
When classes were divided into sections based on academic achievement, there was less of that.
Still, someone with two knives, wielding them in a crowd, without knowing when you pull up that they are 'special needs' can still make someone a special corpse. If a knife wielding attacker is within 21 feet (seven steps) of you and your weapon is holstered, they can be administering mortal wounds before you get your weapon out. Even if it isn't holstered, the suddenness and ferocity of an attack can place the person defending at a disadvantage.
Please watch this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYl2KCdFNgoWe can second guess the officer, we can play "why not this?" all day.
Or we can be thankful that the person the officer shot will be around to learn from all this,, and hopefully get the help they need.
That said, schools have gone all gaga on anti-bullying campaigns. In most places that is some sort of rainbow colored code word for not tormenting the GiBLeTs. "Ordinary" kids still catch hell, and the cruelties that have always existed in the bit of
Lord of the Flies that exists in every crowd of kids still go on, just in the corners and behind the moving screens of other students where the cameras can't see. Yet the kid who strikes back before things get to the point where they want a lethal outcome usually is the one who gets in trouble.