away."
I said, "Doesn't that cost a lot of money?"
He ignored my question. "I don't favor boarding schools, a teen-ager
belongs with his family. Oh, a tough prep school back east can drill you
so that you can enter Stanford, or Yale, or any of the best-but you can
pick up false standards, too-nutty ideas about money and social position
and the right tailor. It took me years to get rid of ones I acquired that
way. Your mother and I did not pick a small town for your boyhood
unpurposefully. So you'll stay in Centerville High."
I looked relieved.
"Nevertheless you intend to go to college. Do you intend to become a
professional man? Or will you look for snap courses in more elaborate ways
to make bayberry candles? Son, your life is yours, to do with as you wish.
But if you have any thought of going to a good university and studying
anything of importance, then we must consider how to make best use of your
next three years."
"Why, gosh, Dad, of course I want to go to a good-"
"See me when you've thought it over. Good night."
I did for a week. And, you know, I began to see that Dad was right. Our
project in "Family Living" was twaddle. What did those kids know about
running a family? Or Miss Finchley?-unmarried and no kids. The class
decided unanimously that every child should have a room of his own, and be
given an allowance "to teach him to handle money." Great stuff . . . but
how about the Quinlan family, nine kids in a five-room house? Let's not be
foolish.
Commercial arithmetic wasn't silly but it was a waste of time. I read
the book through the first week; after that I was bored.
Dad switched me to algebra, Spanish, general science, English grammar
and composition; the only thing unchanged was gym. I didn't have it too
tough catching up; even those courses were watered down. Nevertheless, I
started to learn, for Dad threw a lot of books at me and said, "Clifford,
you would be studying these if you were not in overgrown kindergarten. If
you soak up what is in them, you should be able to pass College Entrance
Board Examinations. Possibly."
After that he left me alone; he meant it when he said that it was my
choice. I almost bogged down-those books were hard, not the predigested
pap I got in school. Anybody who thinks that studying Latin by himself is
a snap should try it.
I got discouraged and nearly quit-then I got mad and leaned into it.
