His mother had brought the tall, gangly 12 year-old to the demonstration school that served 6- to 16-year-old gifted and highly able learners because, as she said, she had heard the school had very good results and she just didn't know what else to do. Although Rocky was profoundly gifted, he had been placed in learning disability classes the past 2 years because he refused to speak at school. His mother said that Rocky spoke freely at home but not at all at school. She was so concerned that the director had agreed to accept him on the condition that if the experience had not helped him by the second week, his situation would be discussed further. Although experi- mental, the school was not equipped for ther apeutic counseling and had not been estab- lished to work with children who were deeply troubled After 2
troubled After 2 days there had been no assess ment possible, and Rocky refused to speak at school as well. Each morning the faculty and all 140 students came together to open the day with a quote or saying for the day, a puzzle for the day, and a relaxation before they went to the areas of study they had cho- sen. On Rocky's third day the quote for the day had something to do with the difference between the educated person and the learned person. To the director's surprise, Rocky raised his hand to speak. "Yes, Rocky," she said quickly. Rocky unwound his long legs from the position he had taken on the floor with all of the other children and stood, immediately commanding everyone's attention. "Well, an educated person knows everything about the box. He knows the bottom of the box, the ceil-ing of the box, the sides of the box, and he knows of the space in the box. But the learned person, well he knows all about the box, but he knows how to get out of the box. He knows about the whole universe, and he knows about himself in relation to the universe and suddenly and looked down a all of the children looking up at him with amazement clearly visible on their faces. But no one was laughing at him, he could see only surprise and interest, for they had never heard him speak before. So Rocky stood up even taller and continued with his thoughtful and complex thesis. At the end of the opening session he approached the direc- tor and very seriously pronounced, "This school is going to be all right. During the rest of the day the faculty was heard to exclaim to each other, wistfully, with shaking heads, "Do you remember when Rocky didn't talk?" for Rocky was a very ver bal youngster. Later
youngster Later the director learned that Rocky remembered his second grade teacher saying, "Rocky, do not interrupt. Sit down and be still." And in the third grade, "Young man, you talk too much. Now put down your hand and get to work!" And in the fourth grade and fifth grade he had had more invitations to "Just sit down and shut up!" Finally Rocky had decided to do just that. He refused to speak at school. The only rea- son he had spoken again in the demonstration school was because, as he said, "It's safe here. Everyone respects each other. I'm not always wrong here; it's okay to be smart and have lots of questions."