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| Attitude Not Aptitude Determines Altitude |
Virgil was one of those students every teacher has had
and every student has seen. While other students were
busy doing math, history, and conjugating verbs, Virgil
sat in the back of the classroom coloring pages. While
other students sat in the cafeteria discussing weekend
social calendars, Virgil sat alone playing with his food.
Then, almost as if the gods said, "That's enough." fate
stepped into his life in the most bizarre way.
If Charles Dickens had been a student he would think it
was the "best of times and the worse of times." This was
the day every student was looking forward to and the day
every student at Podunk High School dreaded. This was
the day every student of Podunk High School would be
given the annual SAT Test.
While the students pondering the questions, Virgil sat
there humming to himself, "Dum, dum, de dum, dum," not
reading the questions, and marking his paper
A-B-C-D-A-B-C-D. He was getting on everyone's nerves, but
they had learned to tolerate him, not ever really expecting
anything productive out of him.
Suddenly, the teacher stood proclaiming, "Time is up. Put
away your pencils, put your answer sheet inside the test
booklet, and pass them to the front." That afternoon the
School Secretary packaged the tests and sent them off to
the Testing Center at Princeton, NJ for scoring.
Monday morning the Test Evaluator was busy putting all of
Podunk's answer sheets in order and sending them through
the $100,000 computer when the dark clouds began gathering
outside. He pushed the button, sending all the answer
sheets through the computer in rapid fire order. At the
same instant Virgil's test was entering the $100,000
computer that never made a mistake, BAM! a lightening bolt
hit the modem, marking every answer on Virgil's test
correct, giving him a perfect score!
In the history of test taking, no one had ever scored 100%
on this test, but the $100,000 computer never made a mistake
so it must be correct. The Director of Testing at Princeton
called the Superintendent who, in turn, called the Principal
of Podunk H.S. who, in turn, called the teacher saying,
"Virgil scored 100% on the SAT!
The next morning the entire staff at Podunk High was all
aghast! This couldn't be a mistake because Princeton and
their $100,000 computer never made mistakes. They began
looking at Virgil with different eyes. They began talking
to him, smiling when he talked, and welcoming him into their
cliques. The students and staff began welcoming Virgin into
the school and classroom. They began making room for him in
the cafeteria.
The boy who had been just tolerated was now the center of
everyone's admiration. The boy who had been the scorn of the
school was now its star, and all because a test score changed
everyone's attitude about him. Virgil began feeling better
about himself, believing he was welcome, invited, and was
part of the school body.
All this came about solely because of everyone's attitude
toward Virgil.
Isn't it a shame that the life of every social outcast can't
be indirectly hit with a proverbial lightening strike, thereby
changing attitudes about them?
-- By Lawrence Brotherton |
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