Vincent...van Gogh?

The format of the story surprised me at first. I thought that it was going to be entirely about one person, namely Edward, but it was a collection of stories and experiences of many special education students. At the beginning of the broadcast, I was strongly amused by the fact that Edward thought that the 'ed' in Special Ed was short for Edward. This seems like something I would try to convince people, although without much success. And him not knowing the special meaning of the word 'special' was also kind of interesting; not knowing what Special Ed exactly meant probably gave him a special perspective on his classes. An important aspect of the first section was the realization of the students’ situations. David was put into special education at 14 years of age due to poor reading skills. He said that he became sad and lonely because he thought he was “slow” or had a mental disease. There is an enormous difference between starting school with special education (“special ed”) and being placed in it after a while, especially at the age of 14. At the age of 14 one would be completely aware of the implications of special ed. Halley’s story (is that how it’s spelled?) also intrigued me. She said that the teacher put her in a corner and yelled at her; everyone laughed and she was very embarrassed. When the teacher yelled at her, she thought that the teacher thought of her as stupid, which the teacher might actually have thought. I think that the teacher’s job is not only to teach, but also to make sure the student does not feel intimidated, especially in this situation. Although there were multiple stories (Halley’s glue incident and David’s poor reading skills), the one that jumped out at me the most was Edward’s. I was strongly amused by the fact that Edward thought that the 'ed' in Special Ed was short for Edward. This seems like something I would try to convince people if I were named Edward, although without much success. And him not knowing the special meaning of the word 'special' was also kind of interesting; not knowing what Special Ed exactly meant would almost give him an advantage; he would have more confidence and he would be more proud of his achievements.
Vincent’s story was very interesting. His sister’s insight was extremely profound; she obviously knew him very well. When she talked about him going into the bathroom for hours, I imagined that he would be extremely sad because of his job, maybe even crying. He probably started to figure out more things about himself and was very disheartened. I agree with his brother about the reason for quitting. He was basically doing work that required no attention or detailing; work that probably was very tedious and boring. He didn’t feel needed there, so he probably didn’t feel he needed them. When he got a new job, his life’s importance was restored, and he re-started all of his activities. And the background track was groovin’.