I Still Resent Being Punished for Reading Well

I am avid reader and have been since the first grade and " Bob can ride; Nancy can ride; Bob and Nancy can ride. See Spot.  See Spot run."  I didn't have access to many books although, according to my Grandma Berry, I read  "The Last of the Mohicans," and  "Don Quixote." in the second grade. I am sure I did not know all the words and I missed the irony in "Don Quixote."  Tilting at windmills meant only that, not fighting an imaginary foe or taking on a task you cannot win.

Yes, I was an excellent reader but I got into trouble twice because of it.  My second grade teacher had me take a note home that said I got a "B" in reading because I didn't follow each word read by the slow readers. In the fifth grade the teacher took up my reader because I read ahead of the story she had assigned.  We were visited by a supervisor one day and our teacher decided on a reading exercise.  When we  completed this work we went on to some other study.  But wait -- a girl got involved.  She squealed, "You didn't take up Roy's book. He still has his book." The teacher was embarrassed and tried to shush her, but the girl wouldn't stop her call for the teacher to "take up Roy's book."  I kept the book for the remainder of the year.

I still, many years later, resent being punished because I refused to restrict myself to learning at the pace of the slower students.