“the Russian government soon shut down laboratory classes in our schools. They didn't want Polish kids to learn about science. They thought education would be dangerous--that it would make us powerful. They were right.”
“What I learned is that it does not matter what you do, or where you go, schools are all organised around the same basic system. It's a system that will never work for a neurodivergent person, no matter how hard they try, because it's entire foundation is built against us.”
Source: Different, Not Less: A Neurodivergent's Guide to Embracing Your True Self and Finding Your Happily Ever After
“However, it's not fair that the only options we currently have for children like me is to either have their parents give over their lives to homeschooling, or to suffer in an environment where every ounce of them is riduculed, ripped apart or forced to changed.”
Source: Different, Not Less: A Neurodivergent's Guide to Embracing Your True Self and Finding Your Happily Ever After
“What we can change is our perceptions, which have the effect of changing everything.”
Source: Buddha in the Classroom: Zen Wisdom to Inspire Teachers
“On the very first Day of School, we had to paint the Letters from the Alphabet with Color. I found 'A' quite funny – at 'B', I didn't want to be in School anymore.”
“The best School stays Life, the best Teacher one's Heart, and Wisdom unthinkable without Pain.”
“І бог, і електрика були для нас однаково незрозумілі. Я відразу прохопився вчительці, що Бог живе в електричних лампочках. Наступного року весь клас знову повели на екскурсію. Того разу до найбільшої гідроелектростанції, з науковою метою. Нам показували велетенські турбіни, залізяки, двигуни і пояснили, що звідси йде електричний струм. Учителька відтягла мене вбік і дуже серйозним тоном спитала, чи я й досі думаю про ті дурниці з електрикою й Господом. Я вже був великий і сказав, що ні. Але вдома, коли вмикав лампу чи плитку, у мене на думці було одне. Бог світив і грів.”
Source: Natural Novel
“I must endure, fighting the temptation simply to become slack-jawed, like most of my school "peers" (they wish!), who will themselves into a collective, vacant, trancelike state for the duration of each class. (Although I sometimes secretly envy their ability to empty their minds completely for a full fifty minutes, reanimating only at the sound of a bell, like Pavlov's dogs. At which point they bark and yip about the hallways until classes start again. . . .)”
“A Stranger in My Own Skin
I watch them move so easily,
laughter spilling from their lips like water,
conversations looping and twisting
like ribbons in the air.
They fit into each other’s worlds
as if molded from the same clay,
as if their bones were shaped
to recognize one another.
And then, there is me.”
Source: Time With Trees: 1995–2025, A Collected Work
“The difference between a schoolchild and a schoolteacher is that a teacher who finds herself miserable at school can leave.”