The Schooldays of Jesus Read Online Free PDF Page B

is silence.
    â€˜What do you think, David?’ says he, Simón. ‘Would you like to go on with these lessons? Are you learning anything?’
    â€˜I already know about four,’ says the boy. ‘I know all the numbers. I told you, but you wouldn’t listen.’
    â€˜I think we should cancel,’ says Inés. ‘It is just a waste of time. We can find someone else to teach him, someone who is prepared to teach sums.’
    He breaks the news to Roberta (‘What a pity!’ she says. ‘Butyou are the parents, you know best.’) and telephones señor Robles. ‘We are immensely grateful to you, señor Robles, for your generosity and your patience, but Inés and I feel the boy needs something simpler, something more practical.’
    â€˜Mathematics is not simple,’ says señor Robles.
    â€˜Mathematics is not simple, I agree, but our plan was never to turn David into a mathematician. We just don’t want him to suffer as a consequence of not going to school. We want him to feel confident handling numbers.’
    â€˜Señor Simón, I have met your son only once, I am not a psychologist, my background is in engineering, but there is something I must tell you. I suspect young David may be suffering from what they call a cognitive deficit. This means that he is deficient in a certain basic mental capacity, in this case the capacity to classify objects on the basis of similarity. This capacity comes so naturally to us as human beings, ordinary human beings, that we are barely aware we have it. It is the ability to see objects as members of classes that makes language possible. We do not need to see each tree as an individual entity, as animals do, we can see it as an example of the class tree . It also makes mathematics possible.
    â€˜Why do I raise the topic of classification? I do so because in certain rare cases the faculty is weak or missing. Such people will always have difficulty with mathematics and with abstract language in general. I suspect your son is such a person.’
    â€˜Why are you telling me this, señor Robles?’
    â€˜Because I believe that you owe it to the boy to have his condition investigated further, and then perhaps to adjust the form that his further education may take. I would urge you to make anappointment with a psychologist, preferably one who specializes in cognitive disorders. The Department of Education will be able to provide you with names.’
    â€˜Adjust the form of his education: what do you mean by that?’
    â€˜In the simplest terms, I mean that if he is always going to struggle with numbers and abstract concepts, then it may be best if he goes, for example, to a trade school, where he can learn a useful, practical trade like plumbing or carpentry. That is all. I take note that you have decided to cancel our mathematics lessons, and I agree with your decision. I think it is a wise one. I wish you and your wife and son a happy future. Goodnight.’
    â€˜I spoke to señor Robles,’ he tells Inés. ‘I cancelled the lessons. He thinks David should go to a trade school and learn to be a plumber.’
    â€˜I wish that señor Robles was here, so that I could give him a slap in the face,’ says Inés. ‘I never liked the look of him.’
    The next day he drives up the valley to señor Robles’s house and at the back door leaves a litre of the farm’s olive oil, with a card. ‘Thank you from David and his parents,’ says the card.
    Then he has a serious talk to the boy. ‘If we find you another teacher, someone who will teach you just simple sums, not mathematics, will you listen? Will you do as you are told?’
    â€˜I did listen to señor Robles.’
    â€˜You know perfectly well that you did not listen to señor Robles. You undermined him. You made fun of him. You said silly things on purpose. Señor Robles is a clever man. He has a degree in