Rough Draft

From my standpoint as an African-American female with an IEP in the New York City educational system, education has a different meaning than its dictionary meaning. The dictionary meaning of education is the process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, especially at a school or university. To me, education is empowering the next generation of young trillionaires. The educational system should empower the young to not only be critical thinkers in the classroom but also critical thinkers in life and use that skill to help them achieve their full potential in the real world and help reach their goals and aspirations. I believe this experience within my education sparked a different light that I’ve never seen in myself because in elementary I had a very hard time with comprehension, In middle school, it had gotten worse and I found out that I had several learning disabilities and was looked at as “different”, In high school, my learning abilities improved significantly even though at times I still struggle with understanding.

In elementary school, I struggled with not only spelling words but also understanding the task at hand, comprehension was a big issue for me. The public elementary school I went to from kindergarten to 3rd grade, they didn’t make sure the students knew how to spell and just kept promoting the kids. It seemed as if they didn’t care about our education the way they should as educators. Then in 4th grade, I transferred to a Catholic School where I was doing way better than I was in the public. The teaching in Catholic School was way better than in public school because they made sure that the students understood the material. I was excelling in subjects such as science, and ela, as well as math but not so much religion or social studies. I only excelled in subjects like Science and Ela because I liked them. On the other handI struggled with religion and social studies the wording would throw me off causing me to overthink the question and get the answer wrong. 

In middle school, I got evaluated and it was discovered that I had several learning disabilities such as dyslexia (where I mix the letters up like “i“ and “e”), I’m an overthinking (during a test I normally spend too much time on one question when I  should do the ones I know first then everything else after), and writing (verbally I can give you an essay but drafting I struggle to get my thoughts on paper). Having dyslexia would explain why I failed all those spelling tests in 4th-7th grade. Also, I felt as if I was going to struggle with school the rest of my like. Having an IEP, made people look at me as  “different”, or made me “slower” than what they were. I got  called names like “slowie” or “sp-ed.” Truth be told, everyone who talked down on me, didn’t apply themselves like they should’ve or they looked to me for answers. Being called those made me feel like I wasn’t cut out for school. Like I wasn’t one of them. Like I wasn’t going to succeed like they were. Honestly, my IEP was beneficial because it gave me a reader (someone to read the question and rephrase it a different way where I can understand it), extra time on tests, and a different testing location. The reader helped me focus, it helped improve my confidence and comprehension.

In high school, I’ve mainly learned that you don’t need to worry about what others think about you because there are others in the same boat as you and this statement is one of the reasons I began to improve. High school was a wake-up call as to who I called “friends”. I can say the one person I consider my sister, is the definition of my sister, ride or die, partner in crime. The friends group kind of fell together due to our mutual interest and the fact our birthdays and in the ’20s with a few exceptions. They taught me that regardless if I had an IEP or not they still had my back through whatever, they were there whenever, and I can rely on them, they aren’t even friends for real, my mom calls them her kids so that makes them my family. 

For me education wasn’t the easiest thing well it isn’t for anyone but it was really rough being looked at as “different”, having learning disabilities, and struggling with comprehension was definitely not a walk in the park. This experience molded me to be a mature young adult by showing me that not everyone is down for you, they’re just down for the moment and what they can get from you. I also learned that I have to be vocal and fend for myself academically because this isn’t grade school where I have teachers or my mom or paras to voice my academic needs. Just like Thomas Edison failed 10000 times perfecting the lightbulb, I may fail over and over but I will never give up. Even now with me still struggling with things  I won’t let the struggle overcome me. Every obstacle and battle I face as I go through my college years, giving up will not be an option when it comes to my success story.