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Read the passage from this BryonySeries book.

Suppose you knew this eleven-year-old girl.

And uppose you knew she dreamed of becoming a psychologist one day.

But this girl struggles with homework no matter how hard she tries.

And her family can't afford college.

What would you tell her?

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            But once inside her bedroom, Julie plopped on her bed instead of returning to her desk.

            Maybe she should give up.

            Maybe she really wasn’t college material.

            Maybe Cs were good enough for stupid girls with no future – like her.

            Julie flopped against the pillows, crackling her tote bag, which reminded her, irritated her, and piqued her curiosity.

            She pulled the clipping out and unfolded it.

What was this?

It wasn’t The Munsonville Times, and it wasn’t a regular newspaper story.

            Julie rolled onto her stomach, smoothed the paper in front of her, and began to read, wondering why Mrs. Clements gave this story to her.

            The story was about twelve third grade students and their essays. The students wrote about how their teacher had separated them into two groups by eye color.

           The kids with brown eyes were told they were smart. They received privileges in the classroom.

           The kids with blue eyes were told they were stupid. They received no privileges.

           The kids wrote about how that made them feel, about how it made them behave.

           Well, this had nothing to do with psychology.

           Stupid Mrs. Clements.

           Julie sat up and started to rip the paper – and stopped.  She swung her legs over the bed and read the twelve essays again. Then Julie slowly refolded the paper, thinking. Julie thought a very long time.

           Was this how Julie was treating herself?

           Julie kept calling herself “stupid” and acted as if she expected to fail.

           Her father said their family wasn’t “college material.” But was that because they weren’t smart enough for college?

          Or was it because they just thought they weren’t smart enough for college?

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And for writers:

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Zoom meeting of WriteOn Joliet.

 

When: 6 to 8:30 p.m.

 

Who: Writers and aspiring writers

 

Why: English teacher Harold Masters in "Bryony" had high writing standards.

 

For more information, visit writeonjoliet.com.