Teacher reveals his color blindness to students. They come up with innovative way to help him
Teachers are one of the most influential guiding figures in the lives of children with the ability to shape their character and the future. One such teacher Roger Alcala, who teaches science at Samuel Clemens High School, has created a special place for himself in the hearts of his students who expressed their admiration and respect through a heartwarming gesture, as reported by 11Alive. After the teacher revealed to the class that he was color blind, his students pooled money and used science to help their teacher.
Alcala's condition came to light when Piper Smith and her friends picked up on one of Alcala's actions and questioned him about it, "We have red and green markers, and we were drawing graphs, and he was like with this marker..." she began. "And we were like, 'That one is green, you already used green for the last one.'" But Smith and her classmates had little knowledge about color blindness that Alcala confessed to being affected by.
The teacher then went on to explain that he has not been able to differentiate between the colors red and green throughout his life. This is because his brain cannot accept the signals to figure out the distinction between the two colors. "My eyes and brain can't tell the difference, sometimes depending on the hue," he said. The students collected $400 to get Alcala special glasses to resolve his issues. As per KHOU, the idea grabbed everyone's attention when Piper Smith shared it on social media.
Alcala was beyond ecstatic after receiving the precious gift from his students. "Sometimes if you put red next to green, they look like the same color," Alcala said. "So, when I put these glasses on it breaks up the wavelength so I can separate these two colors. And I see them how you see them. And that's the miracle. It happens instantly. It is all physics and science, because I am teaching them the physics, and they're giving it back making my life better." One of the first things that Alcala observed through his glasses was the bright shirts his students were wearing. The teacher was also able to see his own kid's artwork as well. "They just made such an impact on my life," he said. "Man, I love them."
In another similar gesture, a student used presence of mind at a young age to help a teacher get rid of hiccups. The teacher was giving a class on patterns when suddenly she got hiccups, looking at which a five-year-old got into action and put her forehead on the ground. After being approached, the kindergartener screamed at the top of her voice startling the teacher. She then asked the teacher, "Do you still have the hiccups, Ms. Reece?" This was the student's way of scaring away the hiccups. Although it is unclear whether the method worked, the 5-year-old did try something unconventional.