Getting the Answers

Billy looked for Veronika as soon as he got home. He found her reading a book.

"Veronika," he said, "we need to talk."

Veronika put the book she was reading down on her chair. "What is it, Billy?" she asked.

"I want to know what's the right thing to do," Billy began. "I know you say we should help people in need if we can, but I'm not sure about this, so I didn't, but now I feel bad."

"Tell me about it," Veronika urged.

"Today we had a science quiz," Billy explained. "We had to know all the planets in order of their distance from the sun. I knew them, because Mandy helped me study for the quiz. She taught me a sentence where each word starts with the first letter of the name of the planet. Then I just had to remember that Mercury is the first 'm' and Mars is the second one, because there are two that start with the letter 'm'. That way, it's easy," Billy explained. "Mandy showed me in a book what each one looks like through a telescope. It showed where each planet is in our solar system. (That's what we call our sun with all the planets circling around it.) That way, I can see it in my head. It isn't just a word," he added.

Veronika nodded encouragement. "It sounds as if you didn't have any trouble with the quiz," Veronika said. "So who needed help?"
"The boy behind me––I don't know his name yet, because he wasn't in my class last year––anyway, the boy behind me asked me quietly to hold my paper so he could see as I wrote my answers." 

"I wasn't sure if that was a good idea," Billy went on, "so I shook my head. He was mad at me."

Veronika got down from her chair and climbed up on the box with Billy. "I can see why you didn't want to, Billy," she said, "but tell me why you didn't think it was a good idea?"

"Well," Billy said, "I think Mr. Jackson, that's the teacher, wants to know if we have learned what we were supposed to learn. He didn't want to know if we could just copy the words when we see them."

Veronika nodded.
"I also think," Billy went on, "that the boy behind me didn't want the teacher to know he was asking to copy from me. He asked me in a way that made me think it should be a secret."

"You did the right thing, Billy," Veronika told him. "What he wanted to do is called cheating, and cheating is wrong. It would be wrong for him to copy your paper and wrong for you to let him."

"Cheating!" Billy said. "There's even a word for it. I didn't know that." Then Billy looked down at his hands.

"I felt sorry for him, though," Billy said. "He told me out on the playground that he was going to be punished for failing the quiz. I wish I could have helped him."
"You have helped him, Billy," Veronika explained. "He has learned that you won't let him copy your paper. He has learned that he needs to study for quizzes and tests if he wants to get a good grade."

"If he didn't ever learn that, he would someday find himself with a problem he couldn't solve by cheating, and that problem probably would be a much bigger one than a quiz."

Billy thought about that. "I see what you mean," he said. "I still feel sorry for him and wish I could help."

"It isn't cheating to help someone study," Veronika suggested, "the way Mandy helped you. If you really want to help him, you could do that."

"How do I do that?" Billy asked.

"You could work together on your homework," Veronika said. "It isn't cheating if you don't give him the answers but just discuss the question with him and show him how to find answers for himself. You could even quiz each other about what the teacher says will be on the test or quiz. That will help both of you."

"That sounds like a good way for me to learn, too," Billy said. "That's just what Mandy did. We talked about the planets, not just the names. Then she had me draw a picture of the sun and all the planets with their names. She knows so much!" he added.
"Yes," Veronika agreed. "When we teach someone else, we learn what we're teaching even better."
"Maybe," Billy said "that's why you're so good at knowing how to help people, and what's right and wrong. You teach the rest of us."

For once, Veronika was speechless. She didn't know what to say.


Cast--
Veronika: Götz Classic Kidz Vroni
Mandy: Götz Happy Kidz Katie 2015
Billy: Götz Happy Kidz Lily at London

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