Schools often assign students to learning groups. It doesn’t take kids long to figure out who belongs to which group. Like them, I understood who belonged to the butterfly group when I was a child (the smart kids) – and those who were caterpillars (kids who weren’t smart – like me). Children often use these assumptions to define themselves. I have a condition called amblyopia or “lazy eyes.” When I open a book, the letters on the pages overlap. It’s as if the pages were printed on clear sheets of plastic and placed on top of one another. I can read the words – it just takes me a little longer. I didn’t want to be a “stupid” caterpillar when I was a child. I wanted to be a butterfly. I wanted to go to college. I worked at as many jobs I could find so I could attend a university. I liked hanging out with smart butterflies at college. Until I took a required reading exam in my freshman rhetorical writing class. My professor pulled me aside after class one day and explained the test results showed I had the reading comprehension skills of a sixth grader. She wanted […]