Learning Objectives
- Understand the concept of a school that teaches empathy and compassion
- Learn about how children understand disabilities through experience
- Identify the values of kindness, understanding, and inclusiveness
- Practise comprehension, vocabulary, and writing skills
Key Concepts
About the Story
This story describes a unique school run by Miss Beam where children learn to understand and feel for people with disabilities. The school uses an unusual method to teach empathy — students experience what it is like to have a disability for a day.
Story Summary
The narrator visits a school run by Miss Beam. The school looks ordinary from outside but has a very special teaching method. Besides regular subjects like maths and science, the school teaches children something more important — how to be kind, thoughtful, and understanding towards others, especially those with disabilities.
On certain days, children are made to experience what it feels like to have a disability. Some children have their eyes bandaged to experience blindness. Others have their ears blocked to experience deafness. Some have their arms tied to experience what it is like to not be able to use their hands. Some are made to use a wheelchair to experience being unable to walk.
Other children help their classmates during these "disability days" — they guide the blindfolded children, help those who cannot use their hands, and push wheelchairs. This way, every child both experiences a disability and learns to help those who are differently abled.
What the Narrator Learns
The narrator walks with a girl who has her eyes bandaged for the day. He helps her move around and realises how difficult it is to be unable to see. The girl tells him how scary and uncomfortable it feels. Through this experience, the narrator understands why the children at this school are so thoughtful and kind — they have personally felt the challenges faced by people with disabilities.
Moral of the Story
The best way to understand someone's problems is to experience them yourself. When we feel what others feel, we develop empathy and compassion. This school teaches that being kind, helpful, and understanding is just as important as learning academic subjects. True education includes caring for others.
Important Terms
- Empathy: The ability to understand and share another person's feelings
- Compassion: A feeling of concern and care for those who are suffering
- Disability: A physical or mental condition that limits movement, senses, or activities
- Bandaged: Covered with a strip of cloth (here, over the eyes to simulate blindness)
- Thoughtful: Showing care and consideration for others
- Considerate: Careful not to cause inconvenience or hurt to others
- Inclusiveness: Including everyone, regardless of their abilities or differences
Quick Revision
- Miss Beam runs a unique school that teaches empathy
- Children experience disabilities for a day: blindness, deafness, immobility
- Other students help and guide their classmates during these days
- The narrator helps a blindfolded girl and learns what it feels like to be blind
- The school teaches kindness and understanding alongside regular subjects
- Moral: To understand others' problems, experience them yourself
- True education includes empathy, compassion, and helping others