Paradigm Shift

I remember early in the beginning of my fifth grade school year, and walking through the halls of Pearly View Elementary. The school population was very small because I lived in a very small town. As I passed the girls boys in other classes I could recall their names and my personal interactions with each one.

It wasn't until I ran into Elizabeth, a girl I knew from the Kindergarten through fourth grade Mount Shinra Elementary school. She was talking to Melissa Kings about summer vacation. I asked Elizabeth who her teacher was this year. She told me that she had Mrs. Cowen. This surprised me because I knew that Mrs. Cowen was a special education teacher.

Up until that point, I always thought of special education students to be drooling idiots. But Liz was not like that all. She was usually the first one to raise her hand when we were learning math. She was pretty and had a very bright personality.

This made me realize that not everybody with a learning disability was "retarded" or dumb. In fact, I had the opportunity to visit Mrs. Cowen's class one day and observe her teach Elizabeth and all of the other special education students. It completely changed my view of special people. As the situation sunk in, I realized how completely prejudice I was. From then on, I was a lot nicer to the all of the special education kids and even made some new friends.