Two-headed teacher – so she was nicknamed on the network. But these are two different women practically in the same body and they work as teachers, and they could have closed down, locked themselves away, hidden from the public, found a home-based job.But that’s not the case, they want to show us an example of courage, resilience and love of life.
I am an elementary school teacher, so I was interested and surprised by such an unusual teacher. And also I, as a mother, thought: would I be able to send my child to such a teacher? I will give my opinion at the end of this publication, but for now the story of the Hensel sisters.
The girls were born in 1990 into a simple family of a nurse and a carpenter. They shared a body, two heads, two arms, two legs, two hearts, two spines, three lungs, and a common circulation. They also had a third underdeveloped arm at birth, but it was surgically removed.
The parents made the decision not to separate their daughters. Such an operation could have cost the life of one or both of them at once. The most important thing for the parents was that their girls were alive, healthy, and happy. Later, they had another boy and a girl, perfectly healthy, not twins.
Sisters Abby and Brittany Hensel grew up like all normal children. They lead active lives: walking, shopping, biking, socializing with friends, working, traveling, and driving.
The difficulty in their existence is that the sisters have different heights. To keep their balance, one of them has to stand on her tiptoes, or rather put her foot down. After all, each of the sisters can only control her own body part – a leg or an arm.
And they feel the touch only on their part of the body. Learning to coordinate the legs when walking is difficult, but Hensel quickly learned everything. Sometimes they read each other’s thoughts and can continue each other’s phrases. After all, so many organs they have in common.
In their town, they are treated quietly, and Abby and Brittany try not to react to the inadequates and their jokes and insults. Most of all, they don’t like being photographed on the street without permission.
They are not two heads on one body, they are different women and two separate personalities.
The sisters graduated from high school and university. They chose an unusual profession for themselves: elementary school teacher. They are very outgoing in school and very sociable.
Now they work in New Brighton in a junior high school.
The administration is pleased with them, they work well and teach the children beautifully. The teachers set an example to the children of resilience and how to make it through life’s challenges, not to shut down and not to be afraid of anything, even if you are not like everyone else.
“One of us can explain the material and the other can check assignments and answer questions. In that sense, we can do more than one person,” the sisters say in an interview about their school work.
One head is good, but two is better. They each have a different teaching approach, and if they are combined, they can give students more than one teacher.
However, Abby and Brittany are worried that they are paid one salary for two. But they hope that over time they will gain experience and their pay will go up. In fact, they are still doing one person’s job – one teacher’s job in the classroom.
Would you give your child to such a teacher?
If she is a really good teacher, why not? Children treat such people more calmly. Yes, they can say something caustic, they can call her names, but this is from ignorance. Children should be prepared for such a teacher in advance.
I would give my child, even if the teacher had three heads, for me it is not important, but her professionalism.
I remember when I went to pedagogical college, in my group there was a cross-eyed future elementary school teacher and a stutterer. Both got jobs at the school, both had good recommendations, testimonials, grateful students and parents. What’s wrong with that?
There’s nothing criminal about it.
But that’s not how many parents reason. After all, our society is not exactly tolerant, and the teacher, especially the first one, must be an example. And should be perfect in everything.