A Pre-K teacher in Okemah, OK is being accused of forcing a 4-year-old left-handed student to write with his right hand, citing her belief that left-handed people are evil.

Alisha Sands noticed something strange when her son Zayde, who is left-handed just like his mother, was doing his homework with his right hand.  When talking to Zayde about it, Alisha asked if anyone at school has said anything to him about writing with his left hand, which Zayde held up his left hand and said he was told that one was bad.

Alisha sent Zayde back to Oakes Elementary the next day with a concerned note.  Zayde returned with an article from his teacher that called left-handedness "evil" and "sinister" and noted that the devil is often portrayed as being left-handed.  Alisha went to the superintendent with the article, and didn't get the response she'd hoped for,

There was no suspension of any kind. There was basically nothing done to this teacher.  She told them she thought I needed literature on it.

I don’t feel like the school did what they were supposed to for him.

KFOR-TV reached out to the superintendent for comment, but was transferred to the Oakes Elementary principal as the superintendent was out of the office.  The principal said that they were aware of the situation and that the district was investigating, and then hung up before any more questions could be asked.

While there has been a historical stigma against left-handed people, recent studies have shown a rise of left-handed people and even noted the mental and artistic benefits of it.  Chris McManus of University College London wrote in Scientific American,

Studies in the U.K., U.S. and Australia have revealed that left-handed people differ from right-handers by only one IQ point, which is not noteworthy ... Left-handers’ brains are structured differently from right-handers’ in ways that can allow them to process language, spatial relations and emotions in more diverse and potentially creative ways. Also, a slightly larger number of left-handers than right-handers are especially gifted in music and math. A study of musicians in professional orchestras found a significantly greater proportion of talented left-handers, even among those who played instruments that seem designed for right-handers, such as violins. Similarly, studies of adolescents who took tests to assess mathematical giftedness found many more left-handers in the population.

via KFOR and Wikipedia

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