Injustice

One particular time in my life that I felt injustice was when I was in middle school. Going through middle school is a tough time for any teenager. Most of the time, you are starting a new school, meeting new friends, loosing old friends and going through puberty (yikes!). Throughout elementary school I received a lot of extra help because it took me longer to learn new things, particularly math. I never had an IEP, luckily I had a group of amazing teachers that wanted to help me and make sure I was learning what I needed to learn. When I got into middle school my mom met with my teachers and explained my situation. Unfortunately, the response my mom received was cold, and not helpful at all. The administration explained they don't have the time to provide the extra care I would need and that I would need an IEP so I could be put in resource. Homework help, and after school help was offered but it still was not the one on one support I needed now and again. Going through this was very hard for me because it felt like my teachers didn't care and my biggest advocate (my mom) couldn't win the battle with them. This was a time in my life I felt injustice and it made me upset knowing that you must have an IEP to receive any extra help in school? It didn't add up to me. I am very lucky to have such a great mom and she got me a lot of help outside of school through tutors. 

I believe my experience with social injustice is very common in schools. Throughout my experience working in schools, I witnessed children with IEP's not receiving the extra support they need. An IEP is put in place for that reason, and to see these children experiencing injustice is truly upsetting to me. I would love to see all schools take IEP's seriously and give those children the support to succeed. I would also love to see more of the support I experienced at my elementary school for students who don't have an IEP, but that need some extra support.