AB Three: The Experiment

When I was in 5th grade I was still living the life of the under achiever when it came to my studies. While I was riffling through my desk looking for one of my incomplete assignments to turn in, the teacher called me. I closed my desk and went up to her. She told me that there was a group that she wanted me to join at the school. She had selected about three other student from our class and the teacher across the hall had selected four students also. The group would meet during the silent reading time. The slacker in me jumped at the opportunity to miss class.
The first day I was in the group I looked around. Everyone who inspired fear in me was there, although none of them had actually directed their bully effort at me, their reputations echoed over the campus. What was I doing here? I fit like peas and bananas. We opened the group by telling each other what we needed help with to do better in school. They expressed their need for help to control their anger and I told them how I need help with my hand writing. The teacher talked about how we were a group and that we need to look out for each other and help each other succeed. The next day we went out and hung from the trees on the playground for our group picture to help us bond probably.
The group leader was doing some sort of experiment or observation about the effects of the insertion of a positive influence into the lives of trouble youth. It seems that I was supposed to be the positive influence. I found this new approach to literacy, emphasizing morals, to be scary and uncomfortable. I didn’t have to protest. My mother, who was, working on a degree in psychology was...well less than happy especial that I was added to the group without permission from home. Today I look back at the incident and consider their theory. I think about the social applications of education. Now the program that I was placed in would have likely resulted in me emulating the majority changing my behavior to fit in with the social unit. However, if you reverse the equation and place a struggling student in with some who are successful the poor student will likely try harder.