School Hatred: Kids my age who CANT FLIPPING READ.

[UberScout]

So, I went to grade school, elementary, middle and high, all through EC classes because I'm autistic. Which is fine, I'm okay with that, minus the undeserved bullying and out casting.

What I'm NOT okay with? Its the fact that by fifth grade onwards, every single kid in my classes COULDNT READ TO SAVE A DYING HORSE. And keep in mind this was upwards from fifth grade! About 10 students in each class matched my age or was a few years older, and when they had to read something aloud, they'd spend anywhere to five minutes (I SWEAR THAT ISN'T A JOKE) trying to pronounce a word four letters long.

Ten year olds. Twelve year olds. Even those dwarfing my age by six years more were absolutely braindead trying to figure out a single page of a textbook. Meanwhile, I'm sitting there reading everything like a dern text-to-speech module from a computer, railing so fast the teach has to tell me to stop and let everyone catch up. In fact every school I went to, that tested me and confirmed I was Gifted, said that my reading level surpasses that of MIT college graduates! Need I remind you this is being told to a TWELVE YEAR OLD at the time I.e. me?!

And yet all the morons around me have to stare at words like "apple" until they realize "oh yeah, this is a book". Did anyone else have this problem or was I the only one that didn't want to spend four semesters a year stiffening my finger on latex paper because somebody got stuck on the word "chair"?

 

[tree]

So you're saying you were in classes that didn't match your scholastic ability?
Some (either "every single" one, or at least "10 students in each class") had poor reading skills.

Why were you in those classes?
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Oh, I see.
Now you have added the words "in EC classes because I'm autistic."
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And you resented the other kids who didn't read as well as you did.

 

[Progster]

Ok, I get this now (I didn't before if you saw the unedited version). The problem might be that you were put into a class that doesn't match your needs, but that's no reason to ridicule the other students who are not as academically able as you are - it's not their fault. They need help, not ridicule. But yes, it's not good to put students into classes that are unsuitable and don't match their needs or ability.

 

[TheFreeCat]

Absolute tragedy. Reading is a crucial way for people to learn and find ways to protect themselves intellectually. However, if they could NOT ever learn, that is one thing.

But if you are saying it was on purpose, that is another thing......

In that case, what a horrible thing to do. Make them dependent, make them forever unable to raise above and learn and question and wonder....and see they were duped. Sure, the slave would know it, but once they could read and see others felt that, how many felt that, how great and vast the scope of things to be learned.....THAT was a threat.

I wish I could teach those kids to read. They would be able to navigate some pretty dense stuff when I was done with them! Maybe I should do that. Help disadvantaged kids to read. You just gave me an idea, if I can keep my ASD in line.......

 

[Dillon]

That's not a very helpful or heatlhy attitude to take. Why does it bother you so much that other students have difficulties reading? These students might have a learning disability such as dyslexia or dysgraphia and need to be helped and supported by their fellow students and not ridiculed. For someone who says that they don't like being bullied and outcast, you have a very judgemental and critical attitude. the problem might be that you were put into a class that doesn't match your needs, but that's no reason to ridicule the other students who are not as academically able as you are.

I have to agree with @Progster on this one. At first as I was reading this I thought these were kids that probably didn’t care about being at school and just wanted to screw around but then I realize wow these are kids who are actually struggling. I have some friends who have dyslexia who just have a hard time reading and I don’t judge them for that at all. During senior year of high school in the afternoons, I would volunteer for special education students at least a dozen of them. These kids were a little more severe than I was and had reading difficulties like what you described. Every time I would go in that class room I would read to them and help them pronounce words they had a hard time saying. What helped is breaking apart certain words and saying it slow since that processes faster in their brains. They had actually progressed some in a matter of weeks which me me happy and happy to know I can help someone out. I felt like a tutor/mentor at that moment.

 

[Tom]

What is an EC class? What do you mean by 'stiffening my finger on latex paper' ?

 

[UberScout]

Ok, I get this now (I didn't before if you saw the unedited version). The problem might be that you were put into a class that doesn't match your needs, but that's no reason to ridicule the other students who are not as academically able as you are - it's not their fault. They need help, not ridicule. But yes, it's not good to put students into classes that are unsuitable and don't match their needs or ability.

I don't mean to ridicule them. I just wasn't expecting to learn they couldn't tell a book from a giant sand which.

 

[UberScout]

What is an EC class? What do you mean by 'stiffening my finger on latex paper' ?

EC means Exceptional Child.

I was using an idiom to the fact that those teachers were such methodic hard[aherm]s that one of their rules was that EVERYONE had to track with their finger while everyone took turns reading, and those who got stuck basically left everyone to keep their fingers on the page. Its any wonder why the teachers were never accused of being mentally disturbed.

Also, there was this other inane rule that some days, EVERYONE IN THE CLASSROOM HAD TO READ THE SAME PAGE SIMULTANEOUSLY. And if the teacher was a substitute (God help you) or they were just feeling enough like Hitler, if one person stuttered or was reading the wrong segment, we'd have to start over from the beginning! Taken up to eleven if they're enough of a platitudinous chidehop that they make us go back a page!

Was that the only friggin school in America where the evolutionary clock ticks backwards?!

 

[UberScout]

Absolute tragedy. Reading is a crucial way for people to learn and find ways to protect themselves intellectually. However, if they could NOT ever learn, that is one thing.

But if you are saying it was on purpose, that is another thing......

In that case, what a horrible thing to do. Make them dependent, make them forever unable to raise above and learn and question and wonder....and see they were duped. Sure, the slave would know it, but once they could read and see others felt that, how many felt that, how great and vast the scope of things to be learned.....THAT was a threat.

I wish I could teach those kids to read. They would be able to navigate some pretty dense stuff when I was done with them! Maybe I should do that. Help disadvantaged kids to read. You just gave me an idea, if I can keep my ASD in line.......

Well, look at me saving the world inadvertently one post at a time!

 

[Tom]

Its 'Sandwich' btw. Named after this guy, the 4th Earl of Sandwich, who is said to have invented it. Now he certainly bettered the world.

 

[Progster]

I don't mean to ridicule them. I just wasn't expecting to learn they couldn't tell a book from a giant sand which.

In that case, perhaps you needed to tone down your post, and avoid words such as "morons" or "braindead" with negative/judgemental connotations, because it comes across as judgemental and ridiculing - focus on what you really mean to say, that you were put in a class that was not suitable for your needs and you are, justly so, not satisfied with your education. It's not their fault and nobody chooses to have learning difficulties. It was unfortunate and frustrating for you, but no need to be so hard on them.

 

[Dillon]

I just wasn't expecting to learn they couldn't tell a book from a giant sand which.

When you say it like that, it’s like you implying that these kids should automatically know right away what something is or isn’t. Okay your born now you know a difference between a sandwich and a book. I wouldnt be able to tell the difference what something is at a really early age as our brains aren’t fully developed as infants to little toddlers. Even though learn learn the same thing as we get older we learn differently and some are slower/faster than others.

 

[Judge]

Seems tragic when I look back on my entire mainstream public school education.

In reading this post, it made me recall that in the first grade, my teacher divided the class into three distinct tiers of ability when it came to reading instruction, along with three different workbooks. I remember being in the middle tier. Not a slow nor a fast reader. Just considered average. Each tier would work within their own group, with the teacher floating from one group to the other to help. I also recall that towards the end of school I was advanced to the top tier, where I was given a different workbook.

In essence, it's tragic to think that in an autistic class that things would be structured in such a way not to acknowledge different levels of ability in any number of subjects. Seems to me that it was the educators and administrators who let you down. Not your fellow autistic students.

It's no secret that intellectual deficits and abilities can be quite varied with both autistic and non-autistic students. You'd think educators would structure classes accordingly rather than teach on a premise of one set of instructions for all.

 

[BraidedPony]

Some people have trouble reading out loud in front of the class, so that could be part of it.
The reading part of your brain is well developed, much better than average it seems.
It is also important to develop all parts of your brain in order to live a happy life. The kids that couldn’t read as well as you might have qualities that you can learn from?
I was frustrated with students that held back the whole class because they didn’t do their homework or didnt pay attention in the previous classes.

 

[Mary Terry]

I'm glad I don't feel like you. I've been a volunteer teacher of ASD students trying to obtain their GEDs for many years. There are many reasons why they were unable to graduate from regular high school but poor reading skills or reading comprehension are a major part of it. I don't ask people to read aloud, let alone all together, but I can tell which ones have fundamental reading problems that impede their ability to pass the GED test by their answers to written quizzes and verbal questions in class. I try to adapt to each one's ability to help them learn. If the better reading students get bored while I work with a slower learner, then they are free to leave my class. Their attendance is strictly voluntary. But I prefer to assign harder work to the so-called "smarter" ones to keep them busy while I work with those who need a lot of help. I don't believe that those who are good readers are necessarily intellectually smarter than those who are not good readers. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses.

 

[Pats]

I don't think it's limited to EC classes - which I also was not familiar with. But my sister complains all the time that her senior algebra and calculus students can't even add or subtract. Seriously, kids graduate and are unable to do first grade work. My x sister in law was unable to help her third grade daughter with a simple math problem because it was written in paragraph form. If Bob had 3 games and Sally had 2 games, how many games did they have together. She graduated and her son graduated and neither of them could figure out how to do the math problem.
I had to teach my daughter to read and I used phonics. When I went to the school because she could not even read the word at or the and I knew I needed to work with her and help her. I asked the teacher about their method of teaching because I didn't want to totally screw up my child's reading. The teacher said they just want the child to get close to understanding and to look at the pictures to figure out what it was about. That explained why she kept trying to read orange because the picture had kids and a basket of oranges, but the word was apple. So, at least, in her school they were not actually teaching them to read, but just to look at the pictures and figure out what it might be saying. The teacher had told me that it was not important that she was able to read every word or the words in front of her. Also explained why my other kids were so bad at spelling. I don't know how they managed to learn to read with this system - probably self taught.
Anyhow - does that help?

 

[Fino]

I used to be like you! I ended up thinking it was probably a defense mechanism as a result of the bullying. They're mean to me because I'm better than them! Which is actually a useful thought as you're going through it. Luckily, I grew out of it and, thankfully, before I became a teacher!

Extraordinarily intelligent people and less intelligent people did nothing to be that way. Being proud of one's intelligence is as ridiculous as being proud of one's hair color. Of course, knowledge and skill takes hard work, and that's a different story, but this sounds more like a tirade on natural abilities.

Of course, you should have been in a different class, and it's strange that you couldn't have changed that. My fourth grade class tested everyone's reading and writing to separate us into groups. I didn't like the concept of separating the class in this insulting way, so I purposely read slow and got placed in the slow group. The teacher let me read on my own, though, so it still wasn't anything like what you're saying.

I'm not intending to judge or insult you in anyway, because I was the same way, but, for the sake of happiness, it's a wonderful thing to grow out of! Good luck!

 

[GrownupGirl]

When I was a child I could read really well for my age, and I'd sometimes get bored or annoyed when the other kids read out loud because they did it sooo slowly or poorly. But when it came to math everyone seemed good at it but me, so that made us even I guess.

 

[Mr Allen]

And even worse, there's guys on Facebook and other sites who are about my age or older and they couldn't spell their way out of a damp Tesco carrier bag and their grammar's awful.

OK I know some people might be dyslexic and can't help it, but in a lot of cases it's pure laziness IMO.

 

[Mary Terry]

And even worse, there's guys on Facebook and other sites who are about my age or older and they couldn't spell their way out of a damp Tesco carrier bag and their grammar's awful.

OK I know some people might be dyslexic and can't help it, but in a lot of cases it's pure laziness IMO.

Rich - I think it is rare for low performing students to fail to learn to read because they are lazy. From my experience and observation, and I'm certainly not an expert, it seems that most of them have learning disabilities and/or inadequate home and educational support.

I live in the deep southern USA. Most of my ASD students come from backgrounds of poverty, ignorance, apathy, racial prejudice by both black and white, little to no family support, sometimes I think even malnutrition. The mere fact that they are trying to get GEDs indicates that they are not lazy. It is not an easy thing for them to do. I think they are brave, struggling with ASD issues, and trying to better themselves and their lives.

You often post that you are looking for a job. Have you considered a teaching position for people less fortunate than yourself? You seem educated so maybe you could start as a volunteer teacher and later convert that into a paying position as a teacher?