Attitude is important

A startling story catches the audience by surprise. 

Here’s how special education teacher Cynthia Ann Broad, a Michigan Teacher of the Year, used a startling story to show that society can’t afford to ignore the educational needs of any children:

I’d like to tell you the story of two educationally handicapped children.

The parents of the first child were not considereds uccessful. His father was unemployed with no formal schooling. His mother was a teacher and there was probably tension in the family because of the mismatch.This child, born in Port Huron, Michigan, was estimated to have an IQ of 81. He was withdrawn from school after three months and was considered backward by school officials.Physically, the child enrolled two years late due to scarlet fever and respiratory infections. And he was going deaf. His emotional health was poor – stubborn, aloof, showing very little emotion.He liked mechanics. He liked to play with fire and burned down his father’s barn. He showed some manual dexterity, but used very poor grammar. But he did want to be a scientist of a railroad mechanic.

The second child showed not much more promise.

This child was born of an alcoholic father who worked as an itinerant – a mother who stayed at home.As a child, she was sickly, bedridden, and often hospitalized. She was considered erratic and withdrawn. She would bite her nails, and had numerous phobias. She wore a backbrace from a spinal defect and would constantly seek attention.She was a daydreamer with no vocational goals, although she expressed a desire to help the elderly and the poor.

Who were these children?

The boy from Port Huron became one of the world’s greatest inventors- Tomas A Edison.

And the awkward and sickly young girl, first lady of US, advocate for civil rights, international speaker etc – Eleanor Roosevelt.