ABSTRACT
The scene is the eighth grade room in Fairmount School in a coastal California community. There is a middle-aged woman standing in front of the room telling the children about their choices as they enter high school. There are thirty-five children in the room. About 50% appear to be Mexican American. Later I discover that the California mental maturity test, elementary form, indicates a range of 75 to 114. The mean is ninety-seven. This is what is described as a ‘middle range’ group.
