Proficiency Test (1960s?)

you already know my name I'd like to find out your names could you tell me what your names are jannis Michelle Michael Jenny okay we're going to do some talking today we're going to do some problems uh I want to find out how you think now I know that we're all a little bit concerned about the cameras but let's see if we can forget about it and just talk to one another okay okay okay you're coming now from school what are you missing well we're we're missing our library period no we're not we're Miss well we I don't miss it how do you feel about leaving school in the middle of the day oh it's all right well that depends just from a test from the library having reading I don't want play or reading or anything special so it's okay if you were missing a play or reading yeah that wouldn't be cuz I have a main part yeah so do I but yeah but doesn't matter it doesn't matter because everybody knows their part this is different this is unusual so it doesn't matter let me ask you this in general how do you feel about school well I I know that I would feel I know that I say I like to look towards vacation and everything because that's when everybody else is home also but if say that I'm absent or when everybody else is in school and I'm out of it it's very boring cuz there's nothing to do so actually I like school because well it depends sometimes I'd rather not be in school but usually it's all right because you're in social activity and it's not isolated I see well in a way I like school too because when I learned something new I get a feeling of accomplishment and that makes me happy that's accomplishment is very important oh I like it because um if you stay home all day um you feel like um you're not accomplishing anything but if you go to school um you learn new um sub you learn new things in in all different kind of subjects and um if you stay home well it it's no accomplishment why did did you want to say something Dennis no I don't have anything to say okay well I I like sco well well it's the root of everything if uh most everybody who has important jobs went to school and learned how to do the job well actually I think that if you could stay home and you could read all the books you're allowed to go to the library and all that and long ago many of the accomplished men many men were accomplished just by that way and I think that if um baseball and all of those things weren't brought up now or weren't weren't played and weren't paid so much attention to people would actually learn much more out of school and it um and like school okay good now you're all in the fourth grade is that right yes and you're all about N9 or N9 and a half years old yes okay good what I'm going to do is tell you a story that has a problem in it I want you to listen to the story and then I'm going to ask you some questions about it and then talk you don't have to raise your hand just go ahead and speak about the question I asked you all right yes okay this is the first one going to tell you a story about a boy who liked very much to help his mother in the kitchen his mother had told him many times that he should not touch the sharp knives but one day when he was alone in the kitchen he started to touch and play with one of the sharp knives and he cut himself now I want you to think carefully about these questions do you think he would have cut himself if his mother had not told him so often not to play with knives or what would have happened if his mother told him that he could have played with the knives would would he have cut himself anyway yes what do you think why oh well if his mother didn't give him a warning M then maybe then she wouldn't be as mad uh at him uhhuh she would be less mad at him if she didn't give him a warning anybody else have any ideas well well it's because if she if she hasn't given him the warning and he said well she she wouldn't care you know and when he cut himself and her mother saw it she wouldn't say well I told you not to and she'd punish him more and hit him more you know and tell his father once she told him yeah yeah well well if she didn't she didn't tell him me he could have played with the sharp knives before and he could have cut himself more yeah uhhuh okay now tell me what should his mother do uh because the boy disobeyed him how do you think she should punish him well take take away all his good things that he does like play sports watch TV um she should not let him out for a week and let him not watch te t or any go to sleep early yeah how long you said A week how long do you think she should do that two weeks two weeks cuz he'll do it again the longer she punishes him the more likely he won't do it again okay is that what you think yes okay and why do you think he got cut in the first place because he wasn't listening he disobeyed his mother okay fine now I want to ask you a different kind of question uh maybe this applies to some of you really you've wanted to be a monitor in a school for a long time a monitor or a guard and this particular morning you were informed by the teacher who's the head of the guards and the monitors that you were going to be a guard starting that afternoon at 3:00 and you're very happy and very excited about it and early that afternoon the teacher is doing an arithmetic lesson in school and she's writing on the board and all the children are busy copying down the problems and you happen to look up just in time to see a boy throw a spitball at the teacher and hit her on the neck she turns around and she's very angry and she asked who did it and nobody saw it except you because everybody else was working and nobody says anything about who did it and the teacher says well she says if nobody confesses I'm going to keep the whole class class in after school for 1 hour and even if you have a job to do as a monitor or as a guard you will not be allowed to do to do it you look around and you see that the boy who threw the spitball has no intention of confessing and you very much want to be a monitor what would you do well you tell you can tell I'd say it's not nice to tatt to him yeah but if if he really wants to be a a god monitor then he would tell cuz he wants to get there on time and do it mhm and also if um I said the teacher did finds that then know she would most likely punish you more for not um telling the truth the first time you know not admitting it how would she find out I don't know if if she did if she did find out then you know after the hour was up and the boy confess then everyone would stay late and maybe he would even lose his job cuz he was late it was his first time so you think he should tell yeah anybody else what would you do I don't know really I'm not a god yet so I don't know do you want to be a guard mhm well here's your chance I just told you I'm the chief of all the gods and I just told you that you could be a God and here's this thing that happened and you have to stay stay in an hour like what would you do make make the person who through the SP confess that's an interest how would you do that yeah but there's no there's no evidence that he really did it you can't it's no proof but it's I saw it with his own to yeah but there's no proof he could be lying the teacher might think that since he told them maybe he did it yeah yeah that's right that could happen I mean if he tattled on this boy that teacher would think that the God maybe he's tatt tailing on another person but he wants to get it out of his system yeah telling that the he that someone else did it and really he did it uh so you get out of it well you suggested something that's interesting you said get the boy to confess how would you go about doing that like tell him that you're going to tell the teacher that that you did it and but if nobody saw nobody else saw it that's right then how are you going to have any evidence to prove it but he but he just became a God and they could always believe him more than believe if another person tells because he's a God you don't know if he's telling me the truth even now problem what do you think the teacher should do in such a situation here she just got hit on the neck with a spit ball and she makes this R send a note home to his mother asked the mother and father to come up to talk he could what's that word which mother the mother of the mother of the person who did it uhhuh or if she finds out what's that word again keep him keep him out of school for a few days I forgot what that word is um spelled you suspended suspend the child who did it what else could the teacher should the teacher do I don't think she should really expend suspend it her because she just got hit on the neck and if and she can either leave him back or you know or tell his parents and his parents will do something about it but I don't think she should suspend him I think I think she uh she she should write a note home and the parents have signning I don't think she should leave him back because one thing in the term he could be very smart the rest of the term you wouldn't really know and maybe that was the only time he ever did something bad maybe he was you know uh good in and that's just you know got into him he just did it maybe those are very good ideas let me ask you another one about school you're a pretty hardworking pupil and you don't like to do homework but you do it anyway when you come home from school either you do it first and then if you have time left you go out to play or you watch TV or you come home and you play and you watch TV and then you go out then you uh come in and do your homework and one day you come to school after you've done your homework the night before and you notice that the girl who's sitting next to you looks pretty unhappy she looks real upset and you think you know why because she's the kind of girl who almost never does her homework and after you've been sitting there for a while thinking this she leans over to you and Whispers and says you know I didn't have a chance to do my homework I wonder if I could copy yours this morning quickly before the teacher comes and collects it what would you do I'd said I wouldn't let her I would just it's her responsibility she didn't doesn't have to watch television and um Like My Mother Does my mother always checks my work my mother says work comes first my mother says work comes first then you play Then you you know so you would not do let her look at I I would give her the homework and then let her do it on her own I how do you mean I don't understand give her the homework CU she don't have it and she has to do it um on her own like she'll have extra homework for the next night cuz she has to make up for it yeah but then the boy would be losing his homework actually he'd be he'd be giving it to her and if he got if he got a wrong homework wrong thing then the girl the teacher will get kind of susp no I mean what you have to do like say you have to do a math page like give her the page number and let her do she has it already but she didn't just um watch television she didn't have a chance to do it but she really did I think it's the mother's responsibility because she she should get after her child to do it how if she told her mother she didn't have any homework she was lying she could have lied so she could find out how she could call somebody suppose she had it she did have the homework uh then what would you do would you let her copy yours no no why wouldn't you let her copy yours because uh um it's her responsibility she uh she's supposed to do her homework I'm not supposed to give her the answers then suppose I get mine room and she get and she has the same answers as me or say I got all my red uh then the teacher's going to get this supicious or the same exact answers and also can make a difference on the report card and then the teacher is going to say to you who copied nobody's going to answer and if the other person says um uh she she copied uh he doesn't have no proof and if the teacher saw that she was copying you know let's say the paper was here like outside and she was copying it on she'd ask and then then she'd put a zero on all the paper and her his name would be on it so she can see that whoever copied it I see and and like you said before I think she didn't do her homework a lot of times M cuz then she's uh the teacher would probably know that she copies the homework that's right because she if she never does it she's not used to the work and you know she she she wouldn't be able to do it well anyway no she wouldn't be able to she she got a 100 plus of the other paper for 100 and the teacher would really think of something you know and she just wouldn't believe it and also if if the if she would say when she copied after she copied and the teacher would ask you know did anybody copy and she would say that he the boy copied from um her then they both get in trouble but meanwhile she really copied from him she could be lying yes I want to ask you another one about homework now it's a little different um this is a day when you're really pretty annoyed at your teacher and the reason you're annoyed is that she gave you a great deal of homework she gave you a great deal of homework on a day that you plan to spend some time with your friends after school doing something that you like to do very very very much it was a very special plan and you felt really that you wouldn't have time to do all that homework and also do this very special thing but as you think about it you figure out that maybe you would have time and you're going to try to do both but when you get home to bring your books home and leave them there your mother asks you whether you have a lot of homework and you know that if you tell her she she'd say stay in and do it you very much want to do the special thing what would you do what would you say to your mother I tell her the truth yeah cuz she look in your books or your assignment book and if she saw that you did have homework and the date was on and said you know today's day then she then she' really get M when he came home and let's say if he had a special thing to do tomorrow again she wouldn't let him go even if he didn't have any homework that day well could well couldn't this special this person uh postponed yeah delay it until another day yeah but in the way he but it really depends on what it is well it's a very special thing well they wouldn't they wouldn't postpone it just for one person if it was a lot of you know a group like then they they postponed it all right but one person what would you say to you you said you would say you would tell her the truth what would you say I telling the truth uh how would you feel about missing the special thing I feel embarrassed cuz if you told everybody but I'm sure I'm going to be there I'm going to be there and then suddenly you don't show up the kids you might feel embarrassed how else might threat you that you can't play with them anymore you always break your day can't play the sports with them you know and what else might you feel ready for El I agree with Sherry you would all tell her the truth mhm okay fine tell you what I'd like to ask a little bit about uh you know when you get to be your age you're getting pretty close to getting to be an adult and people say that boys and girls you're R have a lot of things that they worry about a lot of things that you know they trouble they're troubled by why would you say that most kids your age have as um things that bother them or problems or troubles or whatever I don't mean big ones but all well well um from my experiences from my friend's experience I find that um there's in a usually in a class there's a click and then there's always one person left out and and they they tease this person they ridicule them and and I think that in itself is a big enough problem and then I also think that when um boys and girls want to start dating and and their parents won't let them or they want to go go away and their parents won't let them let they they object to it but what they can what can they do so that sometimes it's a problem if you're one of the people who are not accepted into a group where they tease you and so on it's also a problem that you're getting older and you begin to get interested in boys and girls and you want to go out and your parents why do you think it is that parents object to kids going out well I think I I think they that well I know some of my friends are 13 14 want to go out now and um I I don't think it's right at this age to go on a single day but um I think the parents object because they are so young and they're afraid that um starting so young may lead into other things mhm so parents worry that if you start young with dating this might get more involved as time goes on yes you think that most girls of your age are interested in boys I think so I think that most boys your age are interested in girls boys I know are are um are your girlfriends and you interested in boys your age or boys older than you well I know that I I am like in a group with boys and girls and the boys and girls are about my age there are some boys older and I think that if a if um a boy that's older like a 16-year old boy would um be interested in a 14 year old girl I think that she would like that you know very much say that he's older than I am and he's interested in me so why would she like it so much I think she'd feel flattered that an older boy would be interested in her yes mhm do you think an older boy an older girl being interested in younger boy would flatter the younger boy too I think it might but I never had the experience you never were interested than a 12year old boy I get no um well how serious should boys and girls your age be you know there are so many things in life that are important and um parents are always saying boys and girls all they're interested in is talking on the telephone and dancing and music and rock and roll or something well I I I really don't know how to answer that because I think that um boys and girls outage shouldn't um try to grow up and they should they should still realize that they're they're not adults yet and they should get get the fun that a child can have while they have the time well do you think that um they should be interested in what goes on at the UN what goes on at uh uh Congress well I know I'm I'm not really interested in it I I couldn't sit down and listen to a report on television but to know the situations and to know how bad or how good they are I think that that is all right to know what should be known mhm if we were to ask most of your girlfriends what do you think of what's going on in Vietnam you think they know what's going on in Vietnam enough to talk about I don't think they know know enough to talk about I think they could could say that there's a war and they don't like the idea but I I know myself I don't even know enough to talk about it you think there are some kids your age who are very interested in these things yes I do I think but more so boys than girls really yes I know like in my social studies class there's one boy he knows everything that's going on he has a conversation with the teacher about the the um current events current events why do you think that is I don't know I I I guess he's just concerned and about what's happening but he sounds a little different from the mo the rest of you well I don't know it's an hard ball sort of what about um you when you I don't know that you choose friends but you develop friendship what do you think you look for in friends Well a true friend is somebody that's not going to turn on you and somebody that'll that will think about you and not only himself mhm and so when you look for friends you look for somebody who will be loyal to you well I I guess that's one quality but I look for somebody with a nice personality and and um I I know I I have a friend now and she we aren't very close friends we're pretty friendly and she has this one friend there very very friendly but now she she seems that she's interested in another group of children and she just seems that she's just leaving her friend and I I don't agree with that at all I think that's mean if you um met some girl who was very interested in current events but not interested in boys and dancing you think you could become real friendly with her I think I might if we had some something in common I mean if if we were exact opposite side well maybe she could learn from me like I I would learn from her what if she um didn't fit your ideas of honesty or morality or anything like that and I doubt we could become very good friends you said a while ago that um parents have a problem with this bit or rather what you said is the kids your age have a problem with parents who won't let them go out and so on uh what happens at home when boys and girls you're age do something wrong you know if they um disobey or uh forget to do their homework or bringing a rotten report card or something like that what happens well um if they they bring in a bad report card I know my friendss had some of these experiences and they their parents just limit their social activities and say you'll have to stay home and study and when they disobey at home they get punished I guess how well they limit their social activities they say you can't go out or they limit their time talking on the telephone or they won't let them talk on the phone or they um just just say that um that if this happens again you'll feel sorry and what do you think they mean I don't know if a if a boy or a girl your age says you can't make me to parents what do you think happens I think the parents show them that they can because if a parents is that you're not going out the child goes out think they can only develop into more trouble you think that um boys and girls your age should obey their parents all the time or part of the time I think they should OB obey them I know that I couldn't say that I'm a perfect angel and that I always do but I think they should when do you U you know like not obey well I can give you a specific example the other night I wanted to go out and my mother said that I shouldn't go because there was I wanted to go to my friend's house and her brother had asked me out and I told my mother and she says well I don't want you to go in there because he's only after you tonight we had an argument I said that he wasn't and what did she mean he's after you well she was afraid that I would start going out with him behind her back or that he would start um coming to me and and um she didn't want me to to get involved I guess it was um different religions and and that he was um a couple of years older than I am so so she was hoping that you wouldn't get too involved and this would be one way of doing it huh I guess so well when you and your mother or you and your father to get into a disagreement um is there some yelling or is there um just um looking at one another what what happened B I'm yelling do you yell yeah well I guess my mother does most of it oh how about with your father I don't know he just has a strong voice so you have to listen well you don't yell back at him no yell back at your mother not really really I just get very excited who do you think in general is um not in your family necessarily but what do you think it is about families do you think that they the fathers or the mothers tend to be um the more dominant person in the home well I think when it comes to letting children go someplace I have I well I know with girls I think the mother is the one that is more likely to stop them but I think when it comes to doing things around the house and obeying your parents I think the father is more dominant person think he's more likely to be a boss than a uh than a mother I think so it's I think that well if the mother's having trouble I think that the father will step in and mhm and help out yeah so the mother says if you don't do it I'm going to tell your father um how do you figure it in this way Sue do you think that in our life the way things are that boys have it better than girls or would you say that girls have it better than boys well for a time I thought that that um our boys had it easy but then when I got to know some boys and I heard them talk I say that I guess it's just about equal you mean neither one has it better than the other you think that a boy would just ass soon be a girl than be a boy no I know I wouldn't want to be a boy I'm happy I'm happy the way I am well it's one is no different than the other why not switch over if you I mean kind of you know well when I say they they're not different I mean the the boys are um um are different but I don't think that that um they have they probably have different problems but I don't think that they're any better or any um worse than the problems that girls have I think they at the end equal equal out what sort of problems would you think a boy might have well when it comes to girls I this is what I've heard anyway that they're afraid to ask a girl out that she might say no and then their pride is Hur and or they're afraid that um a girl wouldn't like them and do you think you would rather um be in a position of asking a boy to go out or would you rather be asked I don't know sometimes I wish I could ask and sometimes I'm I don't doesn't bother me mhm do you think that girls do kind of ask boys to go out with them some girls what do you think of that well in the society that we live in I don't think that it's it's really accepted mhm like when if a girl calls up a boy like this boy said to me well you can call me up you know what is this that girls can't call boys but I feel that if a boy wants to talk to a girl it's his place to call her it's is my opinion that in our society the boy should do the calling I think so and what would it it mean if the girl does it calling well I don't know it depends some girls may may like a boy and it may just be that she's chasing him and I don't I don't think it's it's right if I feel that if a girl girl likes a boy she should let let nature take its course I mean she could could let him know it a little bit but to start calling him and and asking him to go places I I can't see that why not I I don't know I just don't just seems awkward just doesn't seem right but you should push it that hard we were talking about mothers and fathers a while ago what do you think that uh mothers would want most from their sons if they had Sons well that they'd be honest and they'd know know how to um get along with other people that they would they would treat um girls um decently and and that that they would um have common sense and com and lot of things how about uh if they have daughters what would mothers want most for their daughters and from their daughters well that the daughter knows right from wrong and that she knows um how to get along with boys and how far to go and that um she's honest and that she can can get along with other people what do you think fathers would want from daughters well the um I guess similar to what mothers would want that but I think that he would would want his daughter to um to work to work in school and and to um come home with good Mark good Mark the father would be more likely to be interested in what the girl did in school I think so mhm supposing so uh you