There are some forms of compassion that are unique to modern America.
I was closely connected to Ed Roberts, the father of the disability-and-independent-living movement. The movement started in Berkeley and spread to all of America before jumping the oceans and moving to many other countries. All this happened in less than twenty years. I’ve written about Ed and how he did it.
The mother of my children, Helen, has taught special education in San Francisco public schools for decades, so I follow the program closely. Helen teaches classes that average six kids with the help of one para-professional. 
I’ve never been able to figure out how much money America spends on education for special ed kids. The number $60,000 per kid per year gets kicked around. Now the number is published in Business Week May 31 page 96. America spends $60 billion a year on special ed, 18% of that amount comes from the Federal budget. That is more than the $60,000 per kid per year.
We should be proud of what we are doing. Ordinary kids, even in the most expensive private schools never get half that amount spent on them.
When a special education student gets two to three times as much spent on his/her annual education as the richest kids, Americans are doing something right.