Coop’s Childhood Part 3 – Real School & Beyond | Lefty Parent

Coop’s Childhood Part 3 – Real School & Beyond | Lefty Parent:

Coop’s Childhood Part 3 – Real School & Beyond

January 29th, 2014 at 15:45

Bach Elementary School

Nowadays K-12 school has become such a high stakes endeavor that academically oriented parents like mine might do their best to “game” the system by letting their kid start school a year later than possible, thinking to give them some sort of developmental and competitive edge relative to other kids. But in 1960 when I turned five, judging me to be an intelligent and precocious kid, my parents had me tested to see if I could skip kindergarten and start public school in first grade instead.

I recall that I found the IQ test they gave me intimidating. Anytime adults focused on me, particularly in a more formal or judging way, I felt uncomfortable. All adults, including my parents, felt like another species entirely rather than simply older versions of us kids. They seemed like large all-knowing deities even, that had me at a total disadvantage.

I can only remember two questions from the test. The first was a diagram showing two paths from point A to point B, and I was asked to choose the shortest path. The second was simply, “Name a woman”, asked to me verbally by the person administering the test. I recall that I was afraid to answer and did not. I knew full well what women and men were and that my mother was a woman. But the question felt provocative to me, and that answering it would somehow be inappropriate and reveal a sexual knowledge that I should not