#wpa federal art project

JOHN IS NOT REALLY DULL - He may only need his eyes examined

Back in the 1920s, my grandpa (of course also named John) was held back in first grade for seven years. Despite being able to recite poetry and do mental math very proficiently, he couldn’t read worth a ding dang half-rotten cabbage.

When he was 12, though, his school instituted the first vision iteration of vision testing of students, and his parents found out that he wasn’t illiterate because of adisability an inability to comprehend written words, but because he couldn’t see the letters! And because he didn’t know this, he couldn’t have articulated that.

After he got glasses, he managed to not only catch up with, but surpass his peers - he graduated a year early, and became an accomplished engineer, serving his country in the Signal Corps in WWII, and going on to outfit many schools and other public buildings with modern power distribution centers.

Source:WPA Federal Art Project. 1936-1937.

ETA:I should have been more clear when I said “he wasn’t illiterate because…” - I repeated the story just as my grandma told it, but should have considered wording!