MovieChat Forums > The Other Sister (1999) Discussion > not trying to be mean... but why encoura...

not trying to be mean... but why encourage a retarded person for college

posted 15 years ago by onandonandon92
12 replies | jump to latest

I'm seriously not being mean... but how is a retarded person going to make it in college? I'm just getting ready to graduate with my bachelors in math and it was the hardest thing I've ever done. I used to work in my college in a math lab tutoring anyone from any of the classes who would come and there were absolutely regular, average people who couldn't pass college algebra. I would work with some people for months and months and months and they could just never get it.

i remember one lady who was always strung out on crank. That lady couldn't add two and two. Although it might have helped had she laid off the drugs for five seconds

I'm not trying to be mean... but... look at how sad was poor Danny when he failed... why would you set somebody up for failure like that? Why would you encourage that?

It would be like somebody telling me to try out for the NFL... honestly... I just don't get it.

Please no body flame me. If I'm wrong just tell me, its just that, when I see completely average people give 100% and fail miserably in college, I just don't see how a person with below 70 IQ is going to make it through.

HEISENBERG WAS HERE.... (I think)

(yes it's a chemistry joke so sue me!)

[–] AmandaPanda1507 15 years ago

Some are HIGHLY intelligent in certain subjects. It just depends really. Not all are going to do great in college but some will do better than others who are "normal"

Think. Laugh. Live.

[–] olleo 15 years ago

Why not encourage them? I have a severly autistic son that my sisters love to tell me will never amount to anything. Nothing makes me angrier. To not encourage is to give up on them, to put them into a box and say don't reach higher than this because you won't make it. Would you say something like that to a child without a disability? My guess is no. And you shouldn't say it to a child who has one.

And by the way I hate the term normal. My son is autistic, not abnormal.

Matthew 28:19-20

[–] AmandaPanda1507 15 years ago

I'm sorry! I didn't mean he wasn't normal! Gosh, that's not how I meant it AT ALL! I'm SO SORRY if I offended you!

Think. Laugh. Live.

[–] olleo 15 years ago

I could tell by your first post you didn't mean it offensively. I just wanted to make a point. Most of the time when people say that they don't mean anything by it. I've even seen it in books about autism. But to a special needs parent you hear the implication that you're child isn't normal even is the speaker doesn't realize they're making it. No worries though I wasn't holding it against you. Though I appreciate the apology.

Matthew 28:19-20

[–] AmandaPanda1507 15 years ago

Whew! Glad you're not mad!

Think. Laugh. Live.

[–] blynnpatton 15 years ago

Some people with intellectual and other disabilities are very smart. I really don't care for the term retarded, because many people assume that people who have intellectual disabilities cannot learn. I have a loved one who has Down Syndrome. She is very smart. She can read and write. She also has a great sense of direction. I wish I had her sense of direction.

[–] HollowStar 15 years ago

I just say, why not?

Besides wasn't the college in the movie a vocational college or a community college anyways? It's not like it was Yale or whatever.
Not that Im saying that just because it was a community/vocational college that it means any less than a more prestigious college. Just that the movie was obviously not trying to portray Carla & Danny as attending a college like that.

[–] blynnpatton 15 years ago

I saw a news story about a boy who graduated from high school. He was their salutatorian. I watched the story last night. I saw it on the web. It was put out by ABC. His parents were told to institutionalize him. They did not, and now he is going on to college to study biology.

[–] Melpy 14 years ago

I agree, it was a votech or community college. Not that those aren't great places but I don't feel like from what my students who are at the community college tell me that it is all that difficult.

Also for the original poster...I definitely think high school was way harder than getting my BA. I attended a rigorous liberal arts college and definitely had to work a lot harder in high school. Now grad school for my masters on the other hand is probably one of the hardest things I've had to do, still working on it though.

[–] AndSheWasNot 15 years ago

I recently read an article about this woman, who has a phd is psychology. She also has aspergers syndrome. As a child, her parents were told that she wouldn't make it through high school. Life is about trying to do what we want to do, no matter how hard it is. The fact that you don't realize just how far the human brain can go, IF the person tries hard enough, shows that perhaps you aren't as astute as you think you are.

Just a liberal, indie, oilfield wife!

http://www.unlikelyoilfieldwife.com

[–] blynnpatton 15 years ago

I agree. Everybody is unique. We all have strengths and weaknesses. I have a niece who has Down Syndrome. She is very talented.

[–] seahorse_luvr 14 years ago

No, not mean...just ignorant.

I work with children with special needs every day. Encouraging people with special needs to try things gives them something any person would want....self respect.

The ability to at least attempt something can give them that rather than just avoiding life in fear of failing. If we never attempt anything because of the risk of failure, then what's the point?