School is about halfway over for students around Christmas. By May, most boys and girls will have improved enough in their reading and math skills for promotion to the next grade.
However, below the surface of all this academic pursuit lies a struggle for peer acceptance and approval that all students seek. Most students are more concerned about what their classmates think and feel than the opinions of parents or teachers.
When I was in the fourth grade, few teachers held me in much esteem, and my fellow students hardly knew or cared much for me. Other than being poor, dirty, and a little hungry, there wasn’t much more to know.
But all that changed when Harry moved into the community. Harry was in the fourth grade and even poorer and dirtier than me. We became good friends because rag-a-muffins often times stick together.
But the class readily accepted Harry, because he had a genuine glass eye. A glass eye that he could remove quickly, leaving an empty orifice in which it was housed. That empty eye-socket was nearly as attractive as the glass eye. The light blue glass eye was slightly larger than Harry’s own dark brown one.