I was very sad when I learned how low my son Michael’s IQ was. I asked if Michael could be tested again. The woman who tested him said no. I tried to show her just how “normal” Michael really was and told her about all the things that Michael did well. But the woman just interrupted me.
Later that evening, after Michael and his three-year-old sister, Linda, were in bed, I told my husband, Frank, what I had learned that day. After talking it over, we agreed that we knew our son much better than an IQ test. We decided that Michael’s low score must be a mistake.
We moved to another state in 1962, and Michael entered a very good high school. His grades made him have the right to choose college preparatory (预备的) courses, including biology, Latin (拉丁文) and algebra (几何)—the subject we had been told that he would never be able to learn well. Biology soon became his favorite subject. He started telling everyone that he was going to be a doctor.
Michael entered Indiana University in 1965 as a premedical (医学预科的) student. By midyear, his excellent grades made his teacher give him special permission to take more courses. He earned enough credits (学分) to be accepted into the Indiana University School of Medicine at the end of his third year in college.
On Michael’s graduation day, Frank, Linda and I attended the ceremony. After that, we told Michael and Linda about the low IQ score Michael had received when he was six. At first, both of them thought we were joking. Since that day, Michael sometimes would look at us and say with a big smile, “My parents never told me that I couldn’t be a doctor ? that is, not until after I graduated from medical school!” It was his way of thanking us for the faith (信念) we had in him.
It has been said that children often live up to what adults expect of them — tell a child he is “stupid” and he may become stupid. We often wonder what would have happened if we had treated Michael as a “nearly retarded (智力迟钝的) “ child and set a limit on his dreams. |
