My son’s struggles began very early in his education. Preschool days were hard….He would try to run away from class to come home. He just didn’t want to be there from the start. Every day was a struggle. He didn’t learn well from a young age, and I pointed that out to the school team, but they ignored my pleas for extra help till it was too late. My oldest child was diagnosed with dyslexia and my youngest had the same learning difficulties, but the school passed it off as laziness. Then, in second grade, they finally agreed that he had learning issues, but they no longer called it dyslexia. One teacher actually laughed at us when we mentioned he may be dyslexic like his older sister. I spent many days crying and asking for meetings with the school for testing and special learning programs, but they took years to react and process. By the time he was identified and offered help, he was hating everything about school. My son is incredibly intelligent, and many teachers have attested to that fact. He just learns differently from most students and can’t follow the norms set by our educational system, such as standardized testing. It’s ridiculous to think all children can pass a single standardized test. I should have given my son private lessons and education out of the school system, but I could not afford it as a single parent. My son is now in high school. He still misses too many classes, but is somehow passing, and he will hopefully be graduating this year. I can say that I am so very proud of his accomplishment, because it’s not the school system that was beneficial. I believe that teaching him that high school was merely a means to an end encouraged him to realize that this torture will someday end, when he can finally join the workforce and be done with the school system.