Deviant by Adrian McKinty Read Free Book Online Page A

the DI system. Founded in 2008, our school serves students from Cobalt, Manitou Springs, and the entire Colorado Springs area. The mission of CJHCS is to provide a content-rich, academically rigorous education with a well-defined, sequential curriculum in a safe, orderly, and caring environment. With an initial intake of just forty, now we have three grades, one hundred students, and are oversubscribed by fifty percent—in just three short years we’ve become one of the best public schools in the state.”
    Mr. Lebkuchen gasped for breath and pretended to wipe sweat from his forehead.
    â€œGot that? OK then, pitch over, now the basics of DI. All our lessons, every day, are planned in advance. Planned and printed by the Association of DI Schools. Teachers read from a set script, and the children follow along from a script of their own. This is the Direct Instruction method. It sounds strange, but it’s been tested and it’s foolproof. Our results speak for themselves. It’s a little bit hard to describe, so let me show you one of our books,” Lebkuchen said, passing across a reading booklet for the month of January. Everylesson was indeed laid out in advance: what the teacher had to say in one script in red and what the children had to do in blue. Juanita passed it to Walt, who passed it to Danny, who passed it to an invisible shredder on Mr. Lebkuchen’s desk.
    â€œWe do intensive reading, mathematics, science, history, and geography,” Lebkuchen continued. “No music, no art, no dance, no silly subjects. We do the three Rs here. By law we are not allowed to teach religious instruction, and by law we have to do PE, but I think that a lot of that is wasted time, especially since we don’t have a gym, and we’ve got to minibus the kids into Colorado Springs.”
    â€œNo music?” Walt said, aghast.
    â€œNo, Mr. Brown, kids can do that on their own time. However, we are starting an extensive after-school program that includes music and art.”
    â€œOh, well, that’s OK then,” Walt said, relieved.
    â€œWe begin the day with two hours of reading. Then we have a spelling and vocabulary test. Then mathematics. More reading. Social sciences, more reading.”
    â€œThat sounds wonderful,” Juanita said, and for some reason added in a whisper, “Danny is not a big reader at the moment.”
    Danny felt betrayed by this and looked at the floor. Mr. Lebkuchen smiled. “He will be. We’re only a junior high, so we appreciate that we’ll be losing Danny in June, but by that time he will be among the elite readers for his grade in this state,” Mr. Lebkuchen said confidently.
    â€œWell, that all seems great,” Walt said.
    â€œExcuse me just one moment,” Lebkuchen said. He lifted a microphone and CD player from beneath his desk and put them in front of him. He turned on the microphone and a mild feedback loop went through the school. He inserted Aaron Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man” into the CD player, and it began playing through the school’s loudspeakers. When it reached its climax, Mr. Lebkuchen read from a piece of paper: “Math stars for the second week of January: Jane Morris 7A, Peter Farthing 8A, Marcella Hernandez 9A … well done, everyone. I expect that you all will continue to work hard.”
    He turned off the microphone, put the CD player back beneath his desk, and smiled. “Our math stars,” he said, slightly apologetically.
    â€œYes,” Juanita said and, looking at Danny, added, “Maybe that will be you in a couple of weeks.”
    Nothing could have excited Danny less, but he nodded and faked a smile.
    â€œNow, you may have noticed how quiet it is in our school. We run the silent system here. No talking is allowed at any time—not in the classroom, not in the corridors, not at recess. The only communication is vertically, between student and teacher and