Eric is one of the most phenomenal people I have ever had the privilege of knowing. He showed me this poem in 2002 and I told him that all parents and kids should read this. He has an ability to impact people with his communication that is beyond anything I have known. The message is true.
The most gut wrenching cry that ever you heard,
Is frustration that follows the misunderstood word,
The child is restless and can’t sit quite still,
He’s nervous and angry and feeling quite ill.
He wants to go home or go play in the sand,
His pencil is shaking inside his right hand,
He’s blank and washed out and not present or there,
He’s kicking the desk and he’s pulling his hair,
He’s yawning, distracted and won’t settle down,
Instead of a student he’s now the class clown,
He can no longer read so he’s playing the fool,
He’s got no more attention or focus for school.
PLEASE make him look back – oh – a sentence or four,
And clear up the word so he’s bright and RESTORED!
If you don’t know the strength of a dictionary,
The psychiatrist will move in and SCREAM, “A.D.D.!”
Then watch as your child takes a nice little pill,
That darkens his spirit and dampens his will,
You’ll be sorry years later when he hasn’t a thrill,
Well look at it this way – at least he’ll sit still.
The lesson’s so easy it might seem absurd,
But all that needs fixing is ONE LITTLE WORD!
Do you hear me? You get it? Please tell me you heard:
NEVER LET YOUR CHILD PASS A MISUNDERSTOOD WORD.Based on the Study Technology of L. Ron Hubbard
"Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend.” - Theophrastus 
I think word clearing is great, but there’s many other reasons a child can lose interest in school and/or for whatever reason be considered to have “A.D.D.” or whatever is popular.
Word clearing a good first line of defense, but our intillectual diversity has led to different types of learning and thinking. I mean we think in all the ways we experience the world. We think visually, we think in sound, we think abstractly, we think kinesthetically…
I’m reminded of a story I heard Sir Ken Robinson give at a talk on education. Gillian Lynne, the award winning choreographer that worked on Cats, the musical, was thought to have had a learning disorder in school. She was disruptive, late with homework, etc. This was before ADHD was “invented” so they got a learning specialist to look into this problem.
Gillian, at 8 years, sat very still sitting on her hands with her mom in this specialist’s office as her mom explained all the problems she was having at school. The doctor then told Gillian, “I’ve listened to everything your mom has said and now we’re going to go out and talk privately.” So he takes her mom out of the office, but turns on the radio on the way out.
When they got out of the room the doctor said, “Watch her,” as they turned and looked back into the office. The moment they had left the room Gillian was on her feet, moving to the music. After a few minutes of watching the doctor turned to Mrs. Lynne and said, “Your daughter isn’t sick. She’s a dancer. Take her to a dance school.” So her mother did, and Gillian has since been responsible for the most successful musical productions in history.
Today, as Robinson put it, “the doctor would have probably put her on medication and told her to calm down.”
I think Study Tech is a step in the right direction, but there’s so much wrong with our education system and perception of education it goes beyond word clearing, clay demos, and gradients.
And it certainly doesn’t help we have all these new diseases to blame as an easy way out.
Good point Jeff.
There is another aspect of this which is actually also covered in the study technology …
It is having a purpose for studying something and a willingness to learn. That comes before anything else.
In Gillian’s case she might have enjoyed a book of her choosing on the subject of dance. True the first step is having something that you WANT to learn about.
Once you start learning on your own determinism a subject … then the three barriers to study come into play.
Ah, how could I forget about self-determinism!
Well, I’m not sure that comes before anything else… I think inspiration comes before self-determinism.
You probably read this on my blog, but my favorite quote on education is, “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” Where learning happens by somebody’s own volition, but you can inspire it by exposing them to something new.
Yes I most certainly did read that … and I loved it!!!!
Inspiration .. I could not agree with you more.
This poem rocks!! I love it. I worked in a Special Ed school and the child you wrote about in this poem are being housed in schools like this.
I randomly stumbled upon this tonight.
I LOVE that you put this on your site.
I am so happy to see how phenomenally you are doing.
Congrats on everything.
Miss you.