H. Quincy Smith

When I was in school, working on my degree in Education, we often read articles written by a professor by the name of Henry Quincy Smith. Throughout the 1950s, Smith gained fame by studying the daily habits of third graders. In his book, "A World Without Patience: Trials And Tribulations Of The Children Of Grade Three," Smith actually lived among these young people for an entire academic school year. In doing this, he was able to blend-in, and pose, as an eight-year-old male student in a classroom full of third graders. Nobody in the school (students, as well as faculty) was the wiser to this experiment. By the end of his study, Smith concluded through his observations that these students spent the better part of their time retrieving various supplies off the floor, which had been dropped moments before. As well as standing in line at the pencil sharpener, often times up to eight times in an hour.

Today, I read that Henry Quincy Smith passed away at his home in Baltimore, Maryland, thus losing his long battle with acid reflex. He was 72.