"Wonder"

Imagine attending school for the first time as a middle schooler. Now imagine that your face looks different from everybody else's on this first day of school. How would you feel? Add in the name calling, staring and outright bullying and I think you can imagine your worst nightmare. This is what Auggie experiences as the protagonist in the book/movie "Wonder." While most of the kids were initially mean to him, there were a few that were kind and this is how he ended up surviving the year. I strongly believe that this book should be required reading for all middle school students because it teaches so many important lessons.

Thankfully, I did not experience much bullying during my years in school but I do remember middle school being a time where I had difficulty making friends and did not find a solid friend group until eighth grade. One of my friends since I was in elementary school decided to stop talking to me one day in middle school. This was extremely hurtful because she never even told me why but I suspect that she wanted to be part of the "popular" group and I was not "popular." In Elementary school, this same girl's mother was telling other moms about a kids's party at her house. However, she told the other moms not to tell my mom about the party because she did not want to invite me. Of course, my mom found out about the party and did not tell me about the situation until it came up in conversation many years later.

Kids learn from their parents how to act and treat other people. On that day, this mother taught her daughter that it is okay to exclude people because they are different from you. A few years later, that is exactly what she did to me by not talking to me.

My co-worker and I were having a conversation the other day about inclusion. He said to me that he thinks there should be no special education because it actually teaches exclusion. After some thought, I agree! If everybody was included in the "general education" classrooms, these differences would start to not even phase children because they may see a child with facial differences or a child who walks with a limp and talks differently on an everyday basis. The problem is. . .could all children with disabilities be adequately served by general education teachers in the general education classroom? I think it is possible with smaller class sizes and a lot more training in special education practices for general education teachers.

My question for you is, can you get to know the person inside before judging them based on their appearance? 
“I wish every day could be Halloween. We could all wear masks all the time. Then we could walk around and get to know each other before we got to see what we looked like under the masks.” 
― R.J. Palacio, Wonder

Written by Sydney Breslow 


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