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The fat head of Sundale Academy was very blunt. “Your son has failed in the 9th Class. We will issue a transfer certificate with the inscription ‘promoted’ if you are taking him out.”
“Where will we take him now?” the disconsolate mother, pleaded. It was the penultimate day of the academic year.
“That is not my look out. I do not have time to waste,” the fat man was at his brilliant best. He was the true follower of the one who had sacrificed himself for his fellow brethren. The tears that rolled out from Hazel did not move the tough man. The rotund man was the head of Sundale Academy responsible for churning out children in the most orderly manner. The children had to learn to conform. The mass production venture could little afford to have feelings for the individuals. The master had once scolded his followers when they prevented the children move up to him.
“Let the children not be denied. They are pure.” The master wanted his followers to love children, attend to their needs and take good care of them.
“Why should we think of a lonely child? We have such a large number of children to cater to.” True, the master had once narrated a parable where the shepherd had gone in search of a missing lamb leaving ninety nine of them behind. The shepherd went on searching till he could save the missing one. “But that is only a parable,” the fat man strongly believed.
Basil, Hazel’s husband had joined her by now. They sat there holding each other without knowing what had hit them. There were tears. The fat man looked on. He was unimpressed. He was impatient. For him it was another dismissal, another day. For him it was another mission accomplished. Somehow he had to protect the honour of his institution. He could not allow a drop of poison vitiate the hundred percent track record of his institution.
“Let the jarring notes go to hell. I’ll have an all distinction or at the worst distinction cum first class outcome. I’ll never allow anyone to mar the image of my precious institution. People flock to us solely on account of our impressive track record. It is the way of the world that a few must suffer for the common good of the majority.”
Sundale Academy had been sending two hundred and eighty students for the past two decades consistently for the HSC examination. As money making was the prime motive, Sundale Academy had been carefully splitting the large number into four batches of seventy each. More batches meant more teachers. More teachers meant depletion in profits. That the teachers were not paid exactly well was an open secret. The brilliant fat man encouraged the teachers to hold private tuitions at home or at the institution itself where they could mint money. Finding the prospects bright some of them had even given up their jobs and were into full time private tuitions that had offered the finest tax breaks. For, if the batches at the fabled Sundale Academy held seventy each, the tuition centres had more than a hundred per session. Admissions to the tuition centres were based on merit, the conditions for admission stringent than the conditions for admission to Sundale Academy. When the results were announced Sundale Academy was always at the top. It held a monopoly for top honours. There were no failures. Structuring was perfect. Distinctions were ninety percent with the lowly rest making up with first classes.
The fat man was totally justified in his action. Schools were only for the fittest. The fittest alone would survive. The world is no place for the weak. People longed to make their children doctors or engineers. One had to go by the market and not by the scriptures. It was money that mattered. A stand alone performance meant a healthy rush for admissions that ensured a heavy inflow of cash. It was cash that mattered in the market, not sentiments, not scriptures.
Though Basil and Hazel could not comprehend what had hit them or their dear child Noel, it was Dyslexia they were confronted with.
Dyslexia or Learning Disorder (LD) unknown to the early civilization was discovered only in the year 1888. It is a glitch in the ability to combine pictures or letters. The term took yet another five decades to be commonly used in the West. Although learning disability’s effects were hardly unknown to Asians it took a lot more time for the Asians to recognize it as a malady. Recent studies reveal that one out of five or twenty percent of the population is affected by dyslexia. However, experienced doctors indicate that dyslexia affects twenty five percent or one of four of the population. The enormity or magnitude of the problem is such that it requires to be addressed vehemently. Even though dyslexia is universal it does not affect every culture or language group uniformly. Its incidence is lower among the Chinese and the Japanese.
The dyslexics encounter trouble comprehending and writing characters. They confuse or transpose elements or concentrate on only one, missing the character’s real meaning. They encounter difficulty in catching up with their peers in the class room who are fast learners. They misspell. Their handwriting often is atrocious. They are slow learners. They need a little more time to grasp. In Noel’s class of seventy, the teacher never had the time or patience to attend to each one, let alone provide special support to the weak. The teacher normally moves ahead when she feels that seventy five percent of the students have grasped what she tries to convey. She brands the remaining twenty five percent as lazy. Neither she nor her institution is aware that dyslexia exists in the world and that almost twenty five percent of the population is under its grip. Where corrective measures are urgently required it is indeed very unfortunate that the dyslexics are branded as no good and in turn treated badly by the society. When dyslexia is diagnosed, what the afflicted needs is love, affection and understanding and not scorn or ridicule. The society fails to realize that except for the glitch that makes them slow learners, there is nothing wrong with the dyslexics. They are highly intelligent with capabilities that surpass the brilliant. Treat them badly and we make them traverse the wrong path. No wonder, prison population the world over abounds with dyslexics.
Dr.Akino Uno, Japan’s foremost expert on dyslexia states, “You can’t fix poor eyesight, but you can wear glasses. We can’t get rid of a disability. But we can teach people to compensate for it.” Dyslexia did not stop Thomas Edison, inventor of the light bulb and the phonograph, from achieving greatness. It had fuelled the creative fire in him. He is among a long list of well known personalities who were afflicted with dyslexia.
It was providence that his parents decided to consult a child psychologist after managing an admission for Noel in another school with great difficulty. It meant frantic visits to all the schools in the vicinity and a considerable sum as donation. Dr. Saira Mohan held a few sessions with them as well as Noel. She disclosed to them that it was dyslexia they were up against. She advised restraint. Noel needed support, love and affection and not negative criticism and the unbridled ambition of the parents to realize their lost dreams through him. He could only be Noel and could never be what the fat man of Sundale Academy had ordained. Noel did very well in his HSC examination the next year passing it with a first class. He has gone for higher studies where he is doing well at present. He has practical wisdom and does everything so well that he is admired by all he comes into contact with. He is grateful to his parents for supporting him at the most critical phase of his life. He is grateful to them for their love and affection when he needed it most.
A child at home who does not perform at the level expected is not a disaster. It may be dyslexia one has to content with. The disheartened parents normally tend to blame or brand the child. But the child is never at fault. He is born with dyslexia. He has not acquired it. Help the child overcome the glitches. Life will certainly be exciting.
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“Where will we take him now?” the disconsolate mother, pleaded. It was the penultimate day of the academic year.
“That is not my look out. I do not have time to waste,” the fat man was at his brilliant best. He was the true follower of the one who had sacrificed himself for his fellow brethren. The tears that rolled out from Hazel did not move the tough man. The rotund man was the head of Sundale Academy responsible for churning out children in the most orderly manner. The children had to learn to conform. The mass production venture could little afford to have feelings for the individuals. The master had once scolded his followers when they prevented the children move up to him.
“Let the children not be denied. They are pure.” The master wanted his followers to love children, attend to their needs and take good care of them.
“Why should we think of a lonely child? We have such a large number of children to cater to.” True, the master had once narrated a parable where the shepherd had gone in search of a missing lamb leaving ninety nine of them behind. The shepherd went on searching till he could save the missing one. “But that is only a parable,” the fat man strongly believed.
Basil, Hazel’s husband had joined her by now. They sat there holding each other without knowing what had hit them. There were tears. The fat man looked on. He was unimpressed. He was impatient. For him it was another dismissal, another day. For him it was another mission accomplished. Somehow he had to protect the honour of his institution. He could not allow a drop of poison vitiate the hundred percent track record of his institution.
“Let the jarring notes go to hell. I’ll have an all distinction or at the worst distinction cum first class outcome. I’ll never allow anyone to mar the image of my precious institution. People flock to us solely on account of our impressive track record. It is the way of the world that a few must suffer for the common good of the majority.”
Sundale Academy had been sending two hundred and eighty students for the past two decades consistently for the HSC examination. As money making was the prime motive, Sundale Academy had been carefully splitting the large number into four batches of seventy each. More batches meant more teachers. More teachers meant depletion in profits. That the teachers were not paid exactly well was an open secret. The brilliant fat man encouraged the teachers to hold private tuitions at home or at the institution itself where they could mint money. Finding the prospects bright some of them had even given up their jobs and were into full time private tuitions that had offered the finest tax breaks. For, if the batches at the fabled Sundale Academy held seventy each, the tuition centres had more than a hundred per session. Admissions to the tuition centres were based on merit, the conditions for admission stringent than the conditions for admission to Sundale Academy. When the results were announced Sundale Academy was always at the top. It held a monopoly for top honours. There were no failures. Structuring was perfect. Distinctions were ninety percent with the lowly rest making up with first classes.
The fat man was totally justified in his action. Schools were only for the fittest. The fittest alone would survive. The world is no place for the weak. People longed to make their children doctors or engineers. One had to go by the market and not by the scriptures. It was money that mattered. A stand alone performance meant a healthy rush for admissions that ensured a heavy inflow of cash. It was cash that mattered in the market, not sentiments, not scriptures.
Though Basil and Hazel could not comprehend what had hit them or their dear child Noel, it was Dyslexia they were confronted with.
Dyslexia or Learning Disorder (LD) unknown to the early civilization was discovered only in the year 1888. It is a glitch in the ability to combine pictures or letters. The term took yet another five decades to be commonly used in the West. Although learning disability’s effects were hardly unknown to Asians it took a lot more time for the Asians to recognize it as a malady. Recent studies reveal that one out of five or twenty percent of the population is affected by dyslexia. However, experienced doctors indicate that dyslexia affects twenty five percent or one of four of the population. The enormity or magnitude of the problem is such that it requires to be addressed vehemently. Even though dyslexia is universal it does not affect every culture or language group uniformly. Its incidence is lower among the Chinese and the Japanese.
The dyslexics encounter trouble comprehending and writing characters. They confuse or transpose elements or concentrate on only one, missing the character’s real meaning. They encounter difficulty in catching up with their peers in the class room who are fast learners. They misspell. Their handwriting often is atrocious. They are slow learners. They need a little more time to grasp. In Noel’s class of seventy, the teacher never had the time or patience to attend to each one, let alone provide special support to the weak. The teacher normally moves ahead when she feels that seventy five percent of the students have grasped what she tries to convey. She brands the remaining twenty five percent as lazy. Neither she nor her institution is aware that dyslexia exists in the world and that almost twenty five percent of the population is under its grip. Where corrective measures are urgently required it is indeed very unfortunate that the dyslexics are branded as no good and in turn treated badly by the society. When dyslexia is diagnosed, what the afflicted needs is love, affection and understanding and not scorn or ridicule. The society fails to realize that except for the glitch that makes them slow learners, there is nothing wrong with the dyslexics. They are highly intelligent with capabilities that surpass the brilliant. Treat them badly and we make them traverse the wrong path. No wonder, prison population the world over abounds with dyslexics.
Dr.Akino Uno, Japan’s foremost expert on dyslexia states, “You can’t fix poor eyesight, but you can wear glasses. We can’t get rid of a disability. But we can teach people to compensate for it.” Dyslexia did not stop Thomas Edison, inventor of the light bulb and the phonograph, from achieving greatness. It had fuelled the creative fire in him. He is among a long list of well known personalities who were afflicted with dyslexia.
It was providence that his parents decided to consult a child psychologist after managing an admission for Noel in another school with great difficulty. It meant frantic visits to all the schools in the vicinity and a considerable sum as donation. Dr. Saira Mohan held a few sessions with them as well as Noel. She disclosed to them that it was dyslexia they were up against. She advised restraint. Noel needed support, love and affection and not negative criticism and the unbridled ambition of the parents to realize their lost dreams through him. He could only be Noel and could never be what the fat man of Sundale Academy had ordained. Noel did very well in his HSC examination the next year passing it with a first class. He has gone for higher studies where he is doing well at present. He has practical wisdom and does everything so well that he is admired by all he comes into contact with. He is grateful to his parents for supporting him at the most critical phase of his life. He is grateful to them for their love and affection when he needed it most.
A child at home who does not perform at the level expected is not a disaster. It may be dyslexia one has to content with. The disheartened parents normally tend to blame or brand the child. But the child is never at fault. He is born with dyslexia. He has not acquired it. Help the child overcome the glitches. Life will certainly be exciting.
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