Wheelchair man - The New Afghan Superhero

[brocktonblockbust]

More rubbish from Gandalf. Is the teacher not essential in helping the student assimilate into a new culture with new customs?

[Gandalf]

If someone is culturally different or shy, then you should have some empathy for that situation. Forcing someone to look you in the eye is just a weird thing to request of a disabled child from another culture. A degree of eye contact is necessary for communication, but everyone is different and should be treated accordingly. If I have a shy student I am not going to demand constant eye contact. I want them to enjoy the lesson and feel at ease. You cannot demand that someone change, you encourage it through nurture and support. "Look me in the eye when I talk to you" is an authoritarian approach that you would never see me use. You can reach students more effectively with understanding and more subtle methods.

[brocktonblockbust]

If someone is culturally different or shy, then you should have some empathy for that situation. Forcing someone to look you in the eye is just a weird thing to request of a disabled child from another culture. A degree of eye contact is necessary for communication, but everyone is different and should be treated accordingly. If I have a shy student I am not going to demand constant eye contact. I want them to enjoy the lesson and feel at ease. You cannot demand that someone change, you encourage it through nurture and support. "Look me in the eye when I talk to you" is an authoritarian approach that you would never see me use. You can reach students more effectively with understanding and more subtle methods.

what the hell are you on about. Any person needs to assimilate. A kid who lowers his head anytime he is spoken to will not interact so well, and must be cajoled, nuanced, gently directed to learn to make eye contact.

[Gandalf]

"And my teachers would get so mad when they talked to me because I would look down - that's very respectful in Afghanistan. They'd say, "Look me in the eye when I talk to you!" There were a lot of cultural misunderstandings.

I cut and pasted the section above from the BBC article. As you can see Brock, teachers would get angry with this poor, little disabled kid. Obviously he is from a different culture, but he also could have been very shy or possibly even had asperger's syndrome or even a combination of things. He certainly must have had a lot of trauma from what he had experienced in Afghanistan. You don't teach children by using violence. As a teacher and especially one who teaches people from different cultures, you should have some understanding of who they are and why they might behave in the manner they do. To shout at a kid like that because he struggles to look at you indicates a lack of understanding and awareness.

[Spicoli]

That's absolutely awesome. Great for him. The body will give but much harder to stop will and imagination.

[brocktonblockbust]

"And my teachers would get so mad when they talked to me because I would look down - that's very respectful in Afghanistan. They'd say, "Look me in the eye when I talk to you!" There were a lot of cultural misunderstandings.

I cut and pasted the section above from the BBC article. As you can see Brock, teachers would get angry with this poor, little disabled kid. Obviously he is from a different culture, but he also could have been very shy or possibly even had asperger's syndrome or even a combination of things. He certainly must have had a lot of trauma from what he had experienced in Afghanistan. You don't teach children by using violence. As a teacher and especially one who teaches people from different cultures, you should have some understanding of who they are and why they might behave in the manner they do. To shout at a kid like that because he struggles to look at you indicates a lack of understanding and awareness.

i espouse as I said above the cajoling, nuancing, gentle approach to helping him understand how to amalgamate his shyness/Asperger's/PTSD possibilities with assimilating into a new culture. Shouting and violence NEVER.

[Gandalf]

Can you imagine getting angry at a traumatised little chap in a wheelchair just because he won't look you in the eye? Your comment that "he should learn to make eye contact with everybody in society since that is the way we do it here" is somewhat akin to how I imagine one of the teachers speaking. "Fit in with our culture, boy. This is America. Look me in the eye! It's how we do it here". He's a kid, let him adapt on his own terms.

[Master]

This why Miles is a good teacher and Brock is not.

[walrus]

Can you imagine getting angry at a traumatised little chap in a wheelchair just because he won't look you in the eye? Your comment that "he should learn to make eye contact with everybody in society since that is the way we do it here" is somewhat akin to how I imagine one of the teachers speaking. "Fit in with our culture, boy. This is America. Look me in the eye! It's how we do it here". He's a kid, let him adapt on his own terms.

You need to teach him self esteem. Good eye contact is important for job interviews. Teach him right make him look you in the eyes.