Scott Rayer

An Open Letter:
To those enrolled in the 6th period Algebra 1 class with instructor Richard Persichio, school year 1969/1970; which consisted of students from the 9th to 12th grades . . .

I was a 10th grade (sophomore) student in that class. It was also one of the most difficult courses during my four years at WHS, where the failure “F-grade” loomed large; but I managed to get a passing “D-grade,” where credit should be given to some of the fellow pupils (ranging from 9th to 12th grades) in that class, along with Mr. Persichio’s grading scale; along with the luck of timing; with how I achieved that passing grade.

Mind you, I was an above average student in the WHS curriculum during those four years, save for the Algebra 1 class and a self-paced science course, taught by Mr. Ames, in that same academic 10th grade year.

That algebra course was the first instructional session after lunch, where I noted on most Fridays during the year some of my classroom peers seemed lethargic or buzzed. On one particular day a fellow student, whose name I’m withholding, admitted to me that he had a literal fill of beer during the lunch period, where the liquid excess in his body had him experiencing agonizing pains; and much to the astonishment among the fellow students, he interrupted Mr. Persichio’s presentation and asked to be excused to the restroom. Mr. Persichio was unfazed by the interruption and allowed the student to stagger out of the classroom.

Throughout that school year, students were put to the test with the occasional “pop-quiz” Mr. Persichio would spring onto the class; with formal exams scheduled on Fridays. His grading method for those exams was “on a curve.”
Well, the combination of the algebra class being after lunch; with the proclivity of some students fortifying themselves with substances aside from food in that break period on Fridays; and Mr. Persichio’s inclination to schedule exams on Fridays, with his curve grading approach . . . it was an alignment of the stars that got me a passing grade in that algebra course.

How was that so?

The buzzed and inebriated students in that class underperformed on the algebra exams; shifting the grading curve downwards; where I recall an 85 was in the “A-grade” category; where even my exam scores that averaged 55 percent, or less, were good enough for passing grades.

To this day I contend that if a portion of the students in that class had not been intellectually impaired by substance use on Fridays; or if Mr. Persichio scheduled the exams on other days; I would have failed in that class; as the grading curve would have shifted to the extent that my exam scores would have gone into the “failure” classification.

Decades later I was diagnosis that could be a plausible reason for my struggles with algebra: Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), or as it is more commonly referred to as "ADHD."

The ADHD made sense, as the three difficulties I had in school were: Advanced math; self-paced courses; and foreign languages. Those are three traits, among several others, that are considered synonymous among people with ADHD.

The self-paced science course I squeaked by with, as Mr. Ames issued me a generous “D” grade. An aspect that distracted me with that course’s curriculum was with the classroom discussions about the Star Trek TV series with Curt Cassingham and Gary Johnson. Cassingham should be among the charter members of the Trekkie following; as his interest with that original TV series was something to marvel at. And mind you, NBC had already cancelled the series; with syndication reruns still years away.

I had struggles with the Drafting 1 course with Mr. Primet, where in part, the unique cast of characters in that class made for distractions.

With a foreign language? With the struggles I had in middle school, I skipped it in high school; went to a community college for an AA degree as a backdoor entry to a four-year university.

Your time with this is much appreciated!

BA Degree, Journalism; California State University, Fresno, 1976

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