You have turned out to be fantastic woman for what you lived through. What were you beaten with, your parents' hand/fist, stick, or belt? I was never beaten. All my father needed to do was snap an old barber's razor strap to get our attention. My mother was former Military, a Coast Guard drill team squad leader. Her voice was enough to scare you into submission and compliance. Harsh words were my punishment. My First-grade teacher called me a "nincompoop" for having a messy desk. My mother wrote on one of my Report Cards that she guessed I was not as "stupid" as they had thought. She called my "trash" one time, can't remember the incident that led to that. It was believed that I was not College material because I did not read well. I was recommended to be a mechanic and take vocational classes rather than college bound classes. Later in life I determined that I had a Learning Disability as there was a 400-point difference between my Math and Reading scores on the test that you take before entering college. That same 400-point difference was there when I took the tests to enter graduate school. The Federal Law identifying the need to serve Special Education did not exist until 1975. I was out of high school and undergraduate college by 1971, so I never received any help with my disability. I figured the best ways that I learned on my own. To this day, I do not really enjoy picking up a book to read, but I do so on occasion. I will write characters' name down and how they relate to each other or to the story so that I can remember and connect. When I stop reading, or even while I am reading, I have great difficulty remembering what I have read. I am extremely distractable with noise and motion around me when I am reading. You can imagine what it was like sitting in a classroom and being told to read quietly for twenty minutes while the rest of the students are talking, moving, etc. Just as you, Anna, I survived! I graduated from Madison College with a B.S., from Virginia Tech with a M.A., and an Ed.S. from UVA. I had a very successful, and mostly enjoyable, forty-five-year career in the field of Education. Rather, than calling me names, I wish that people had said to me, "YOU GO GIRL!!!!!"
You have turned out to be fantastic woman for what you lived through. What were you beaten with, your parents' hand/fist, stick, or belt? I was never beaten. All my father needed to do was snap an old barber's razor strap to get our attention. My mother was former Military, a Coast Guard drill team squad leader. Her voice was enough to scare you into submission and compliance. Harsh words were my punishment. My First-grade teacher called me a "nincompoop" for having a messy desk. My mother wrote on one of my Report Cards that she guessed I was not as "stupid" as they had thought. She called my "trash" one time, can't remember the incident that led to that. It was believed that I was not College material because I did not read well. I was recommended to be a mechanic and take vocational classes rather than college bound classes. Later in life I determined that I had a Learning Disability as there was a 400-point difference between my Math and Reading scores on the test that you take before entering college. That same 400-point difference was there when I took the tests to enter graduate school. The Federal Law identifying the need to serve Special Education did not exist until 1975. I was out of high school and undergraduate college by 1971, so I never received any help with my disability. I figured the best ways that I learned on my own. To this day, I do not really enjoy picking up a book to read, but I do so on occasion. I will write characters' name down and how they relate to each other or to the story so that I can remember and connect. When I stop reading, or even while I am reading, I have great difficulty remembering what I have read. I am extremely distractable with noise and motion around me when I am reading. You can imagine what it was like sitting in a classroom and being told to read quietly for twenty minutes while the rest of the students are talking, moving, etc. Just as you, Anna, I survived! I graduated from Madison College with a B.S., from Virginia Tech with a M.A., and an Ed.S. from UVA. I had a very successful, and mostly enjoyable, forty-five-year career in the field of Education. Rather, than calling me names, I wish that people had said to me, "YOU GO GIRL!!!!!"
May I use your story in a column...you have conquered and achieved so much including raising great children
Yes. Feel free to use as you see fit.