Landmark 360 Blog

I need you to hear something.

Not first as a school administrator or a teacher—but as someone who learns the way you do, who took far too long to see in myself what I now see clearly in you.

So let me say it plainly: The world needs you. Exactly as you are.

You can be president. A doctor, lawyer, teacher, plumber, actor, scientist, poet, entrepreneur. Anything. Not in spite of how your brain works—because of it.

Now the harder truth.

The system was not built for you. It was built for a different kind of learner—and for too long, anyone who didn't fit that mold was labeled, sorted, and set aside. 

Some of you have been tested, pulled out of class, talked about rather than talked to.
Some of you have had teachers who tried their best and still missed you.
Some of you have had adults who were supposed to help and left you feeling smaller instead.
Some of you worked twice as hard to feel half as capable.

This is not a reflection of your potential.

A learning difference is a disability when no one around you understands it.

But here is what I know.

Every time you flip on a light, start a car, or pick up your phone, you are living inside the imagination of someone who learned exactly like you. The world didn't make room for them either. They built it anyway.

You come from that line.

The way your brain hunts for patterns, thinks in pictures and systems, asks why when others just memorize what—those are not flaws. They are features. Remarkable, world-changing features.

Difficulty is not evidence that you don't belong. It is evidence that the world hasn't caught up to you yet.

You will lead, create, invent, heal, build, and inspire. 
Not despite the way you learn.
Because of it.
And one day, the world will catch up to you.

With respect and admiration,
Josh Clark
Dyslexic Dad
Dyslexic Learner
Head of School, Landmark School, 
Past Board Chair, International Dyslexia Association

About the Author

Josh Clark is the current head of Landmark School, located in Beverly, Massachusetts. A committed humanitarian, he champions the cause of neurodiversity in education and promotes the science of reading as a vehicle for education reform and social good. Past Board Chair of International Dyslexia Association, currently serves on the  National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), and is an Expert Contributor to the global nonprofits Made By Dyslexia and Microsoft Education. He also co-founded the Association of LD Schools (ALDS) and serves on its board. Josh has presented about the importance of recognizing and supporting students with dyslexia and other language-based learning disabilities (LBLD) all over the world. Josh is a lifelong educator. He began his career in education at Lausanne Collegiate School, an International Baccalaureate World School in Memphis, Tennessee, where he served as assistant head of the Middle School and a middle and high school English teacher for seven years. Prior to his current position at Landmark School, Josh served as the head of two different schools that serve students with dyslexia: the Bodine School in Memphis, Tennessee and The Schenck School in Atlanta, Georgia.