DLC Stories.

We think it important highlight the stories of diverse leaners. We aim to show how they struggled, how they learned to learn and what their lives look like today. We call these DLC stories but really they are the stories of every day heroes.

December 11, 2020

Patrick’s Story: A Long, Lonely Walk...

I do not remember much about elementary school, but the path from Ms. Babb’s second grade class to the resource room is a walk I will never forget. I can remember - even smell – every red and white square of old linoleum tile floor. I made that daily walk at Bruns Avenue Elementary, a Title I School, because I was identified as having a learning disability in reading comprehension.  

The experience of being extracted from the classroom and relegated to a room where I was subjected to demoralizing literacy drills created trauma and anxiety that would stick with me. I wanted to feel like a normal student, and so in the fifth grade I convinced my mother to pull me out of the special education setting.  Unfortunately, my arrival back in the general education space was premature and I struggled mightily throughout middle school, high school and college.  

I did not learn how I learned until I began work in the U.S. Senate, where I served as a policy advisor to Senator Kay Hagan. In the U.S. Senate, I became interested in my officemate’s work to reauthorize the Individual with Disabilities Education Act. I learned about the public education system and the support provided for learners like me. 

 I did everything I could to improve how I learned. My world was transforming. My most recent experience in the classroom at the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School indicates my true level of academic ability, producing a much different outcome than my undergraduate record. I made the highest grade in my Introduction to Corporate Finance class, beating out classmates who were investment bankers and accountants.

My experience with learning was painful, but it was not unique. Sixty-five percent (65%) of 3rd graders in the U.S. do not read at grade level. Among at-risk students, that number rises to 84%. Students who aren’t reading by 3rd grade are less likely to graduate high school, attend college, or make a positive contribution as a citizen.[i]

The Vietnamese Buddhist Monk Thich Nhat Hanh writes, “when we recognize our own suffering, the Buddha – which means the Buddha in us – will look at it, discover what has brought it about, and prescribe a course of action that can transform it into peace, joy, and liberation.”[ii]

My objective for serving in the Diverse Learners Coalition is to use my experience and past struggles to benefit others, especially those teachers who do not feel prepared to teach struggling readers in the general education setting.[iii] As I have felt the pain and suffering associated with my learning disability, I now find joy and liberation in being an advocate and source of support for educators and students.

[i]  National Center for Education Statistics. Early Warning! Why Reading by the End of Third Grade Matters. Retrieved November 19, 20202 from https://www.aecf.org/m/resourcedoc/AECF-Early_Warning_Full_Report-2010.pdf. 

[ii] Hanh, Thich Nhat (2015). The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy and Liberation. Harmony Press.