An abusive relationship

I make no secret that I'm a dyslexic, and the older I get, and the better educated I become, the angrier I actually get over my primary education. Then verses now issues just boil my blood.

See, I don't read things. It's more like I stew and absorb things, maybe too much. Reading is a skill that is a slow process to me. You read a novel in a day, and I take 4 days to do the same thing. That's a huge difference, right there, between normal and me!

One of my pet peeves in life, is Tough Love. Tough Love isn't understanding, it's abuse! It isn't educating, it's abuse! Tough Love as a tactic is for belligerency, not for everything, all the time. It's one thing to be tough about clothes on the floor for example, verses in the hamper. It's uncalled for when someone fails to complete an assignment because of a physical defect in their brain.

My seventh grade science teacher was one of those Tough Love, guys! And he was the kind that pick out a kid, in every class, and mentally abused them. I assume he was thinking that it was for their own good. I was one of the unfortunate victims of this jerk!

It started with him finding excuses to yell at me, in class. We were assigned seats. So I had to sit next to a rascal, that was a talker. And our teacher used that as an excuse, to accuse me of doing things that I was innocent of. Which accelerated into him imposing a solitary confinement around me, by sitting me by myself, at the front of the class, instead of the talker!

Mind you, this same man, refused to teach evolution to the class. They handled the requirement of the State, by having him leave the room, and turning the class over to our Advanced Science teacher, who basically gave one lecture and was gone. I remember how much of a shock 'the Theory' was to me, the first time I heard it, there. And today, with the facts we know to be true, it's so hard to believe that people like that are still around. But, I know they are, I've even worked with them.

One day we were lead to library, and told to find a science project. That was not particularly good enough instruction for me as a 14 year old (maybe not even today). I needed help, and I was tossed into the deep end, without any. And as a shy student, I was afraid to ask for any, either. Not that I would have gotten any from this jerk.

I ended up finding a book about building a crystal-less radio. But remember, slow reader here! We had two weeks to do our projects. And everyday the requirements just seemed to get worse for a dyslexic to complete. We now not only had to make something, but we also had to write an essay about it. And I was going to be lucky to even finish reading the book. I was isolated from a lab partner, and just completely setup to fail! And I did!

I was taken aside, told that I had failed his class and would have to attend summer school, and I had to go to the Vice Principal's office. Once there, I got a corporal punishment for failing to complete my assignment. To this very day, I don't understand the thinking of these two FUCKED UP men, that passed through my life, for this one act.

On the silver lining side of things: The Advance Science Teacher was the summer school teacher. We got collect pond scum, and view it under a microscope. And dissect a frog, and identify and his organs. Which was a thousand times cooler than the effects of thermal radiation on atmospheres, and the boiling temperatures of water. (Mind you, he never gave me any credit for listening to him.)

Much to my own surprise, I loved the repeat of 7th grade science, and really enjoyed my one summer school experience. But to this day, I have issues with those two men, that I had the misfortune of encountering as a student with special needs. They were professionals, they should have ALWAYS known better!

As a footnote to this story, some day I'll have to write about why we need alternative education, and summer schools.