Category: Unit 1

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.

Unlike most Education Narratives, this narrative is going to be a critique of the American education system. While it’s not a unique stance, the american education system fails the people within it daily. My history with education is just one of the many examples of near missing a catastrophe. The education system attempts to turn unruly children into functioning members of society while at the same time showing that the exact same society they are supposed to join, cares little about them themselves. The system is far from a perfect one, but it should have a focus on creating an environment that emphasizes how important education truly is.

Early on in my educational career I started to amass a large amount of absences which were never addressed until my late high school years. Even with all these absences, every school I’ve ever been in let me slide by year after year without correcting my behavior. I started missing school for the basic reason that my mother was sick. In my life it’s always been just me and my mother so I somehow got it into my head that it was my job to stay home with her as much as possible, which in hindsight just sounds like a childish excuse to miss school. Despite me missing school for weeks on end and still getting sent to the next grade, school quickly became boring and I became quite disillusioned with it. It wasn’t until I was nearly a senior in  high school that my “sliding” stopped abruptly. I was a whole 33 credits shy of graduating. After thinking I could get away with anything I was simply and abruptly told do not pass go, do not collect $200.

After hitting the limitations of putting in no effort with school I was given a choice by both my parents and school: go to a transfer school or get my GED. In my eyes a GED was tantamount to failure. I also didn’t want to leave my current school as I had been there for almost a decade. After months of back and forth something in me relented, some part of me knew this wasn’t the way things were supposed to go and wanted me back on track. Leaving my old school and going to a transfer school was the best decision I could have ever made. If I didn’t I doubt I’d have graduated high school. The key difference between the transfer school and normal school were the staff. While most teachers were a bit distant, the teachers at the transfer school took the time to know you and tried to help based on your individual needs. That’s where I feel the education system needs the most help. It’s a vicious machine that teaches you that you’re nothing but a cog in the machine that has one path in life. The compassion and love they held for teaching forever changed my standard of learning.

My story isn’t a unique one but think about all the people who have had to stay home to take care of a sick loved one or thought they had a better use of their time than school? What happens to those kids who end up not knowing the true value of an education? Those kids end up falling out of the machine, ground up and spit out without anyone to actually care. Traditional education could benefit more from compassionate individuals who truly care for their students.