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[this is the final school version of To: All the Children Left Behind]
Hey there kiddo. You want to know, why are we so different? So, I’m going to tell you a story. It’s a story about my life. It is a story that is not un-common in this family and, though it may not be directly answer your question, you should know how this story has come to define our lives. Hopefully, then you will then be able to confront similar situations with a good perspective and knowledge that you, as my child, you are valuable, and you a smart.
At some point, in probably first or second grade, a teacher had stood tall over my shoulder growling at me that I shouldn’t read reading out loud and at the time, I didn’t care. My parents were soon informed that I wasn’t reading well and that I wasn’t paying attention in school; but more than likely, I only seemed behind because I wasn’t permitted to read out-loud, which is the best way, being an auditory learner (I learn best if I can hear it being said), for me to absorb what I was reading. The teachers then laid out a plan to assess and solve my problem. I had to be tested.
The first set of tests I remember well, even now. I was taken into one of the counselors offices where in the adjoining room the kids with speech impediments (or Herbie Samsss’es) were undergoing speech therapy. Though I don’t remember the first part very well, I’m sure that the motherly counselor, with whom I still have high regard, kindly told me about what we were going to do. Then she asked me to define a series of many words (I kind of liked doing that because I was good at it). That test revealed that I had a sixth grade vocabulary, which is good because I was in second grade. Then I took an IQ test (a test that attempts to measure how smart a person is). That test proved that I was very intelligent but, strangely, I wasn’t told the results of that test until I was sixteen (more on that later). Overall, the tests felt like a fun diversion from the school day. However, the next year I noticed that some kids took a test that I didn’t get to take, and they said it was the test to get into challenge classes. Because I didn’t know how smart I was, when I saw that take place, I knew at the time that that meant I wasn’t smart enough to be in those classes.
It’s important for you to know something. Adults aren’t perfect. They make mistakes. So, if you think an adult is telling you that you are stupid or less smart than the other students; then, I want you to tell that person how they made you feel. It is very important that you tell adults how they make you feel because they aren’t always able to understand how their actions affect you.
My test scores came back from the counselors, and I moved on in school, but my teachers still believed that there was a problem, and again my teachers told my parents that I should have tests taken. This time, however, I wasn’t going to be tested at the school; I went to see a psychiatrist. A psychiatrist is a Doctor for your mind with the ability to prescribe medication to solve a problem with the mind. But first, just like a normal doctor, she needed to diagnose the problem; she diagnosed me as having ADD (a learning disability that is characterized by having a low attention span). She then prescribed Ritalin as a solution to the problem.
It’s important for you to know what I eventually learned. You are perfect the way you are, and that means you should never take a drug, prescribed or not, on a permanent basis, unless it will save your life. This is especially true for drugs that affect the mind. However, there are times when is necessary to take a drug for a short time to enhance therapy or other things.
During this same time frame, when I was being medicated, I started to change in physical appearance. In fourth grade I had the most pull-ups in the P.E. testing, with nine-teen; then in fifth grade, it was less than five pull-ups. By sixth grade I couldn’t do a single pull-up, and I had to wear pants that were called “husky.” This was because I was eating too often, and the types of food I was eating weren’t good for me. Now that I have learned to eat high quality food, I understand why I gained body fat when I was young. It was because of the foods that I was eating.
It’s important for you to know why we eat differently than your friends. It is because most foods (in bright colorful boxes with bar-codes) have substances that taste extremely good to our bodies, but are terrible for them. Eating food like that is no different than taking drugs recreationally.
Being “husky” and, officially, “learning disabled” had the effect that I became very depressed. In sixth grade I was ridiculed and mocked by a group of students that had previously been my friends for being fat or any other flaw they could think of. A teacher attacked me too. She reduced me to tears in front of the class before she sent me into the hallway to wallow in my own shame.
You are likely to never face such horrendous treatment because you know how to communicate how you feel to adults, but I want you to know that making fun of your fellow students is as immoral as murder. If you make fun of one of your fellow students, it is as despicable as murdering them in cold blood. It is never acceptable because they don’t have the same advantages that you have. You should never condemn a person that you haven’t first walked in the shoes of.
Anyway, there is a lot more to my story, but for now, I think that you’ve heard enough. I want you to know that you are valuable, smart, and that I love you. I want you to know that taking drugs, even prescription drugs, is only acceptable if the treatment ends. Also, I want you to know that making fun of you fellow students is extremely hurtful and you should never join in, even if it’s the cool thing to do. Also, I hope I answered your question, a bit. We are different because I have learned that it’s okay to be different. The most important thing is that you’re healthy. Now go to sleep.
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