Thomas Edison: One Room Schoolhouse, In 1854, Rev. G. B.

Report on Thomas Edison In an one room schoolhouse, in 1854, Rev. G.B. Engle labeled one of his students “addled”, meaning mentally ill. At this time, the student had only attended school for 12 weeks, but as a dyslexic, and a child suffering from severe hearing loss, school proved to be a grueling challenge. Who would have guessed that this child grew up to be one of the world’s most respected, and influential inventors of all time. Thomas Edison, although he experienced a discouraging childhood, overcame the barriers standing in his way, and improved our world’s technology, greatly contributing to the advancement of America. On February 11, 1847, Thomas Edison was born to Samuel Edison Jr. and Nancy Elliott Edison. Edison was the youngest of 7 children, however, only he and three

Additionally, Edison was unable to speak until he was four years old. In 1854, his family moved to Port Huron, Michigan. There, when he was dismissed from the school system due to his learning disabilities, his mother chose to homeschool her son. Edison’s mother properly educated her son. By the time he was 11, his astounding knowledge and capacity to learn was evident. Then, at the age of 12, Edison worked at the Grand Truck Railroad selling newspapers. However, in his free time, he utilized the laboratory he had created in a baggage train, performing many chemical experiments. Its was not long before one of the experiments caused the baggage train to catch on fire. Edison was kicked out by the conductor, compelling him to advertise at another station. A man, whose child Edison had saved from being hit by a train, offered to instruct Edison in how to operate a telegraph. Excelling in this operation, by the time he was 15, Edison was employed as a telegrapher. Subsequently, he traveled among the midwest, serving as an itinerant telegrapher for the next five years. When programming the telegraph was fairly new, paper inscribed with