God Bless googling

In college some class back in the 1970’s we discussed the lessons learned about a young woman who was discovered during my college years tied to a potty chair and locked in a closet. She had been kept this way from age two to thirteen when she was found and rescued. She never managed to learn speech of any consequence.

Ever since I first heard the story in the news this young woman’s plight has been a powerful metaphor to me for what happens to anyone deprived of a full life and the chance to exercise our innate curiosity. Whole races or classes of people can appear dim and diminished when they are locked out of the opportunity stretch their minds. Sometimes even schools can manage to shackle young minds.

A decade or more ago I wanted to see a follow up story about this on NOVA but I missed it and have wondered about it ever since. Thanks to Google I’ve caught up.

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