Wednesday, March 26, 2008
The Truth About Helen Keller
Being a sophomore in college, I find it unbelievable that I never knew anything about Helen Keller's passion for social change. I of course learned the typical story of Helen Keller in elementary school that only focuses on her childhood instead of her efforts in her adult life. As I was thinking about how my elementary school, along with many others, failed to educate me fully about Keller's life, I began thinking about all the information missing from my elementary education that I have only learned in my college years. For instance, last year I learned the true Rosa Parks story; how the movement actually began with a sixteen year old girl but they did not find her fit to represent the movement. Also in my history class this semester, I am learning many things about America's history that were lacking and sometimes are contradictory to what I learned in high school. I can't help but wonder all of these are missing from early education. Do they not feel that young students are ready to deal with these concepts?
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2 comments:
I also think it is strange that as a Special Education major, I never knew the true story of Hellen Keller before reading the article about her. I had no idea that she was involved in so many different organizations and movements. All I remember learning about her in elementary school was that she was able to overcome her disabilities, but nothing else about her other accomplishments. I tried to find a children's biography on her to bring to class to see if any of her major accomplisments were mentioned, but I had no luck!
Sometimes "special education" (which, for many focuses on the biological/pedagogical responses to disability) gets separated from "disability studies" (which focuses on the cultural and historical significance of disability) in universities because they come out of different disciplines. (I think the two complement each other.)
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