Say what?
A caller to the NPR radio show today recounted the story of himself growing up with learning disability. He ended up going into Army Rangers instead of college after high school. Somehow, he learned to compensate for his dyslexia by honing his auditary memory and went through UCSD and just recently finished Johns Hopkins Medical School, all without the ability to take organized written notes. An amazing story of course. It really made me rethink about my attitude toward people with learning disabilities. Learning disability has only recently been recognized as a real problem in substantial proportions of the general population, and this is in America, where "no child is left behind." And in China, where I was growing up, no such recognition existed--teachers simple taught as much as they could, and the students that were left scratching their heads were simply "dumb." Now is such insensitivity "smart?"By now we should all realize that students of all grades could be destined for success. Just look at the two presidential candidates from 2004. Certainly, a C-plus average from Yale forty years ago is nothing to laugh at, but nor would the label "best and the brightest" fit. Furthermore, I, like others, really wonder if George W. Bush has some form of learning disability. Sure he is not the most articulate, and has been known to "dissasemble" the English language. A man rising to the height of human political power is not stupid. So aren't those signs of dyslexia? It would really serve as an inspirational example for people who suffer from the same problem to know the American President also struggles with learning disability.
Just as one would not dismiss any non-Anglican researcher at a scientific meeting because of her broken terse English, I really should be careful about my bias toward people who may be dyslexic or have otherwise struggled with school.
P.S. I think what needs to be recognized is the truly extraordinary responsibility we place on and the great service done by teachers in every society. They are especially important where it comes to help children who have learning disabilities. It is too bad that no one has an easy answer as to how societies can better reward these wonderful people. But I like what Williams College does. Tom Friedman from NYT has more.
posted by hedgehog @ 9:07 PM
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