I was thinking the other day about the trials and tribulations my 25 yesr old bi-polar son has gone through. He is a strong, compassionate and loving being these days..engaged to a beautiful woman and holding down a job he loves. But, it wasn't always that way. Throughout his first 8 years of schooling he was thought to be slow functioning and special needs. After taking an IQ test in his last year of junior high, he was found to have an IQ of 165. That changed things as far as the school was concerned. They tried to push him beyond his limits, and consequently he had a nervous break-down and quit school at 16.
One day, just before he quit school, he came home with a big red F on the top of a paper he had put his all into writing. It was based upon his own opinion(which the teacher had requested), but since his opinion did not agree with hers, she failed him. He said to me "Mom, never in my life have you called me a failure. What gives her the right?"
Indeed, what did give her the right?
I think that our culture really needs to review our standards of normalcy.. especially when it comes to children.
