When you meet some educators, you get the sense that they were born to teach. Others? Not so much. Two teachers at a Georgia middle school presented a student who has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) with an award. Sounds lovely, right? Wrong. The trophy was inscribed: "Most Likely to Not Pay Attention."
Crazy, right? Sounds like these teachers might qualify for the "Most Likely to Lack Sensitivity & Awareness" award.
Needless to say, the mom of the 14-year-old "award winner" was not impressed. Nicole Edwards told Fox 5 News:
"I feel like it was very derogatory. I feel like it was humiliating. My first thought was, I wanted to know how my child felt when she walked across that stage and got that award. I became furious."
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It seems that rather than supporting this student and giving her the help and tools she needs, the teachers prefer to openly mock her. No wonder this mom is outraged. Can you imagine how embarrassing it would be for her daughter as her friends ask, "Hey, can I see your award?"
Surprisingly, there are actually people online defending this award.
It's hard to imagine under what circumstances this could be deemed appropriate, but considering the child has a serious diagnosis, you'd think these teachers would know better.
If she were just a flighty student with good grades who wasn't paying attention by choice, that might be a totally different story.
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If there's a bit of good news here, it's that Rockdale County Public Schools superintendent Richard Autry told the Rockdale Citizen these educators won't be coming back in the fall.
"We take these matters seriously and will always act swiftly and appropriately to them," Autry told the newspaper.
Considering ADHD, a neurodevelopmental childhood disorder which is characterized by struggling to pay attention and behaving impulsively or over-actively, is hardly a rare or unusual diagnosis, it should be handled more professionally. You certainly wouldn't expect it to be turned into a joke.
We're hoping this girl wasn't too embarrassed by the incident, and we're glad her mom came forward so other children facing challenges aren't made to feel less-than because of them.
