An Indelible Event and Detour Through a Global Childhood: a Memoir by Henry M. Silvert

Author:Henry M. Silvert
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BookBaby
Published: 2021-04-19T13:54:30+00:00

Why Do Butterflies

Change Colors?

My final report card for second grade year was not the best, which had been expected. My performance was so poor that the teacher recommended I repeat the grade, but my parents convinced the school’s administration to let me move on to third grade. Everyone agreed I was advancing rapidly in my cognitive skills, and that it was just a matter of time until I caught up with the rest of my class. My parents continued to work with me at home, which really paid off during third grade, the 1956-57 school year. One day during the first month of that year, our teacher got angry when she realized most of the class hadn’t read the science homework for the day. The topic of the unit was how animals adapt to their environment in order to protect themselves from other animals.

She looked at us sternly and exclaimed, “You must all read your assignments on time or else you will not do well in this class. Do you understand?”

There was silence in the classroom, as we all timidly mumbled in unison, “Yes, ma’am.”

I was not going to admit to her in front of all my classmates that my mother had read the assignment to me, which would have revealed that I could barely read. I actually was rapidly re-learning to read but was still reading so slowly that by the time I reached the end of a sentence, I had already forgotten the beginning. And, if I’d said that the assignment had been read to me, but I still didn’t remember it, I would have been embarrassed that much more. So, I kept my mouth shut.

The teacher quickly regained her composure and challenged us to a contest. “I am going to ask one question and go down each row starting with those whose last names begin with an A and the first person who answers the question correctly without looking in your textbook will receive an “E” for excellence in science on your report card for the entire year. Now, put your books inside your desk. All I want to see on your desks are your hands.”

After the class followed her instructions, the teacher began quizzing the students one by one. The science homework question she asked was straightforward: “Why do butterflies change their colors?” Student after student either answered the question incorrectly or simply said that they didn’t know the answer. I was seated in the first seat of the second row from the door. I had a crush on Virginia, who was the smartest and prettiest girl in the class and who sat in the very last desk in the row closest to the door. I just knew that she would be able to answer the question.

When the teacher reached me, she asked, “Hankie, do you know the answer to my question?”

I said “No, but Virginia does.”

The teacher knew that I was rather intimidated to speak in class, so she added, “C’mon, give it a try.”

I remembered my mother reading that part of the book to me and hesitantly started to answer.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.