Excuse me. Ma'am? I think you're using that word incorrectly.

When did we start to mix and mingle terminology meant specifically for a particular group of people, yet now used by the masses?

This morning I was listening to a great conversation on education, education reform, and the problems we face in our public schools. Going backwards 40 years, I remember when I was in school the term for a child that couldn’t grasp the concepts presented – and I speak here of a child specifically identified as having some sort of clinical medical reason for their difficulties – was "retarded." I know that term has taken on a cruel insensitivity over the decades, and it was justifiably changed to the two word phrase “Learning Disabled”, or LD for short. My wife has been lifelong friends with a woman who teaches LD children in a Virginia elementary school, and again, I’m talking of the clinically diagnosed.

On this radio talk show I listened to this morning, a woman from Denver called in and spoke of her two children in elementary school. The woman was intelligent and made several cogent points, but I was alarmed at how she described child #1. She laid the groundwork for her discussion by stating both children attend public schools and normal classes. She stated child #2 was doing fine and received relatively high marks in all areas and tests. Child #1 was different. She kept referring to him as being learning disabled, and described how he struggled with both in-school tasks and homework. I was struck by the fact that she kept saying he was LD, when it seemed obvious to me that he was merely academically average. He received modest grades, and was modestly successful. She was rationalizing it by saying it wasn't his fault...mother nature is playing a large role here. Perhaps...but I doubt that.

I am of a mind that it is not acceptable for this woman to place her son’s difficulties in school in the LD mode. Look, all people are actually NOT created equal, and school is one of the major benchmarks in determining where a child will fit into society. I’d love to be able to play golf like Tiger Woods, but I can’t. I’d love to have the mind of some great thinker at Princeton, but I don’t. And her child is not especially bright. Although I feel for her and others like her, I believe we need to keep phrases like LD specific to what they were always intended to be. That way we can deal with the true issue of clinical learning disability in a forthright manner, and focus our attention thusly.

And parents need to understand that C students happen…all the time as a matter of fact. And it’s ok to be average.

Peace.