Hawking and high expectations (Week 14)

Andrew Beigel’s article about preventing the abandonment of assistive technology devices talks about the importance of the “human” touch in ensuring that a device reaches its full potential in helping a student. He notes that a student must feel “inter-personal, non-academic support” to continue using a device which means teachers have to have knowledge of how the device works and have high expectations of the students who are using them. If a teacher doesn’t call on a student who needs a speech aid, for example, then he or she is not getting the most out of his educational experience.

Beigel says that “learners who are not like their teachers face lowered expectations.” But just because a student has a speech problem or other disability doesn’t mean that they can’t grasp complex educational topics. Stephen Hawking, who has severe disabilities due to Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, is one of the world’s top physicists. He was in graduate school when diagnosed and had already proved his intelligence and aptitude in physics so it was probably easier for him to find teachers to push and challenge him, despite his physical difficulties. If he had developed his disability in elementary school, would he have been given the same opportunity to develop his talent?

http://www.washington.edu/doit/Faculty/articles?370