The “Rudolph Effect”
The main character must deal with the disadvantages of dyslexia. Travis turns the pawn shop guy’s lowered expectations of him to his own advantage. Mr. Daniels is that special teacher who not only recognizes that what is perceived as a disadvantage by the many can almost always be expected to show up as nearly a singularly useful talent when least expected, but he encourages his students to celebrate those perceived disabilities as what they really are: simple differences. Call it the “Rudolph Effect” in which kids with metaphorical lights that glow are revealed to be equipped with special abilities rather than burdened with a disability to make fun of.
The Devil and Noah Webster
The standardization of education as the de facto system for education in America comes under a torrential tempest of well-deserved criticism. Noah Webster may be targeted a little unfairly—but only a little. Once Ally learns that the entire foundation for teaching the English language can be traced back to Noah Webster during a field trip. The field guide at the Noah Webster House extols him as a “visionary” but Ally—suffering from dyslexia which is in no way helped by the standardization of teaching English—has a quite different word for him: “jerk.” Although not demonstrated quite so explicitly, the critique of one-size-fits-all academia is persistent and the message is clear: what has been lost as a result of standardized teaching—and especially standardized assessment—over the course of history is incalculable.
Bullying
This theme actually, in a broadly interpreted way, incorporates Noah Webster as well. From Ally’s perspective, Webster is a jerk precisely because he’s a bully. The metaphorical bullying—just barely only metaphorical—of kids to adapt to an education system which seeks to punish them for their weaknesses rather than reward them for their strengths is juxtaposed with the more obvious physical abuse of Albert at the hands of bullies and the emotional and mental bullying of the rich girl clique led by Shay. The general recurring pattern of abuse that face kids whose ability to learn at their peak does not fit into the standardized routine—like dyslexia—is often not even seen as bullying, especially when it is being done by teachers in the pursuit of fitting all shapes of pegs into one narrowly defined square hole.
