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AL: My name is Al Smith and here is my story.

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When I was in elementary school, I'm going
to start in the fourth grade, I, like many

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kids, did not seem to understand the value
of respecting other people so we would always

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wait for the short bus to come out in front
of the elementary school to see who's going

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to get on the short bus.

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The short bus went to the retarded school
in our community and we would laugh at the

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kids that were getting on that bus.

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The very next year they called my name and
the very children that were laughing with

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me were now laughing at me.

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My mother worked in the cafeteria at the elementary
school.

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I had no idea I was dumb, by the way, definition
dumb.

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I was getting ready to get on that bus, doing
everything I can not to cry because I didn't

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want my friends to see me cry.

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My mother came out with one of those big cooking
spoons.

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The principal at the time was Mr. Cheney,
she said, "Mr. Cheney, I don't want my son

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on that bus, you didn't talk to me about that."

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He said, while I'm standing there, "Mary,
he's one of the dumbest boys in school, I'm

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doing him a favor by sending him to the retarded
school to a special program we have over there."

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She said, "You're not going to put him on
that bus."

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She kind of waved that spoon and he didn't
want to get hit so they put me in the metal

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building out back with the special ed. kids.

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So all through the fifth grade, sixth grade,
and even as I went to the junior high school

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at that time was the seventh grade, I was
in remedial.

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I accepted the fact that I was dumb.

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Someone has got to be dumb, you've got smart
kids and you've got dumb kids.

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So I'm one of the dumb kids and I accepted
that.

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In junior high school they had career day
about three times a year.

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Well we never got to go because we were the
"special kids."

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Well one year Mrs. Walker, who was our special
ed. teacher, we were right across the hall

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from the library, she says, "My kids are going
to this."

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Principal said, "Not going to do it."

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She says, "Alright then you tell the parents
why they can't go."

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He said, "Alright fine they can go but they
have to sit in the back of the room."

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So I'm sitting back there and honestly I didn't
care what those people were saying, I'm a

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dumb kid; I accepted that.

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So I'm looking out the window at the birds
and I'm hanging just kind of looking around

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saying, "Oh so this is the library."

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But a doctor came and visited us and I can't
remember if he was a psychological doctor

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or a medical doctor but he brought one of
those kits similar to what you see a lawyer

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would have, one of those lawyer pouches.

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He opens this thing up, he takes out a scale
and puts it on the table.

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He pulls out the model of the brain, he said,
"This is the brain of an adult."

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And he puts that on a scale and he pulls out
another model, "This is the brain of a person

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your age."

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And he puts that on the scale and you could
see a few ounces of difference, you almost

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had the brain of an adult and he goes through
all of this stuff about the hemispheres and

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what they do.

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I'm just counting how many birds that were
out there but he said something that got my

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attention.

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He said, "Whether you all know it or not,
there is no one in this room that is any smarter

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than anybody else."

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That's interesting.

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He said, "Unless you have some kind of chemical
imbalance and there is something wrong with

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you mentally.

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There is no one in this room smarter than
anybody else."

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And I said, "Well I know I don't have anything
wrong with me."

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So I waited until everybody left and since
we were right across the hall from the library

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I could wait until the bell rang and I still
had time to talk and I said, "Doctor, did

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you tell me that-" I said, "In this room is
a guy named Ronald Moon and Ronald Moon is

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the smartest guy in class, are you telling
me that I'm as smart as Ronald Moon?"

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He said, "I'm listening to you talk, there's
nothing wrong with you."

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He said, "The only reason why Ronald Moon
is smarter than you is because Ronald Moon

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knows that he can do it, he believes in himself,
and he probably has a better study habit.

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There's nothing he's doing that you can't
do."

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My whole attitude about education changed
that day.

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My whole attitude about what I could accomplish
and what I could do changed that day.

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My grades got better.

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Did I become an A student that year?

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No, but over time I began developing and attitude
that if anybody else can do something, I can.

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And here it is now, I'm working for a university
designing well-based training for faculty

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and staff.

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The very guy whose mother was told that this
kid was too dumb to even be in public school.

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And so that's my story.