I learned from Professor Feuerstein that faith really does change lives.
Building confidence and competence for struggling learners is a passion for NILD and one that we shared with the late Professor Reuven Feuerstein. His philosophy of structural cognitive modifiability and mediated learning was transformational for many educators. Below is an excerpt from an article that was recently shared by a Rabbi who knew Professor Feuerstein well.
His methods were elaborate and his theories complex, but seeing him at work you knew that there were three reasons he achieved miracles. First, the basis of his work was love. He loved the children and they loved him.
Second, he had transformative faith. Under him children developed skills no one thought they could because he believed they could. He had more faith in them than anyone else.
Third, he refused to write anyone off. He insisted that children with disabilities should be included in society like every other child. They too were in the image of God. They too had a right to respect. They too could lead a full and meaningful life.
I learned from Professor Feuerstein that faith really does change lives. The one thing that can rescue us from despair and failure to fulfill our potential is the knowledge that someone believes in us more than we believe in ourselves.
