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Remarkably enough, though, even with the larger class size and the students' insistence on practising the salute and motto, the class was not falling behind. If anything, they were covering their assigned lessons even faster than usual. Using the rapid question and answer style that The Wave had inspired, they had quickly covered Japan's entrance into World War Two. Ben noticed a marked improvement in preparation for class and in class participation, but he also noticed that there was less thinking behind the preparation. His students could glibly spit back answers as if by rote, but there was no analysis, no questioning on their part. In a way he could not fault them, because he himself had introduced them to the ways of The Wave. It was just another unexpected develop­ment in the experiment.

Ben reasoned that the students realized that to neglect their studies would be detrimental to The Wave. The only way they could have time to spend on The Wave was to be so well prepared that they only needed half the regular class to cover their assigned lessons. But he wasn't certain this was something to be pleased about. The class's homework assignments had improved, but rather than long, thoughtful answers, they wrote short ones. On a multiple choice test they might all do well, but Ben had his doubts about how they'd do on an exam consisting of essays.

To add to the interesting developments in his experi­ment was a report he'd heard that David Collins and his friends Eric and Brian had successfully infused The Wave into the school's football team. Over the years, Norm Schiller, the biology teacher who also coached the school's football team, had become so soured by wisecracks about the team's continual losses that during football season he practically went months without speaking to another teacher. But that morning in the faculty lounge Norm had actually thanked him for introducing The Wave to his students. Would wonders never cease?

On his own, Ben had tried to find out what it was that attracted students to The Wave. Some of those he asked said it was just something new and different, like any fad. Others said they liked the democracy of it — the fact that they were all equals now. It pleased Ross to hear that answer. He enjoyed thinking that he had helped break down the petty popularity contests and cliques that he felt often preoccupied too much of his students' thinking and energy. A few students even said they thought the idea of increased discipline was good for them. They had surprised Ben. Over the years, discipline had become an increasingly personal responsibility. If the students didn't do it themselves, their teachers were less and less inclined to step in. Maybe this was a mistake, Ben thought. Perhaps one of the results of his experiment would be a general rebirth of school discipline. He even daydreamed about a story in the education section of Time magazine: Discipline Returns to the Classroom: Teacher Makes Startling Discovery.

Laurie Saunders sat on a desk in the school publications office, chewing on the end of a pen. Various members of The Gordon Grapevine staff sat on desks around her, biting their nails or chewing gum. Alex Cooper was wearing his Sony radio and was bopping to the music through his earphones. Another reporter was wearing roller skates. This was The Grapevine's excuse for a weekly editorial meeting.

"Okay," Laurie told them. "We've got the same problem as usual. The paper is due out next week, but we don't have enough stories." Laurie looked at the girl wearing roller skates. "Jeanie, you were supposed to do a fashion story on the latest clothes. Where is it?"

"Oh, nobody's wearing anything interesting this year," Jeanie replied. "It's always the same thing:jeans and sneakers and T-shirts."

"Well then write about how there are no new styles this year," Laurie said, then she turned to the reporter who was bopping to his radio. "Alex?"

Alex kept bopping. He couldn't hear her.

"Alex!" Laurie said more loudly.

Finally someone near Alex gave him a nudge. He looked up, startled. "Uh, yeah?"

Laurie rolled her eyes. "Alex, this is supposed to be an editorial meeting."

"Really?" Alex replied.

"Okay, so where's your record review for this issue?" Laurie asked.

"Oh, uh, yeah, record review, right, uh yeah," Alex said. "Well, uh, you see, it's a long story. Uh, like I was going to do it but, uh, remember that trip I said I had to take to Argentina?"

Laurie rolled her eyes again.

"Well, it fell through," Alex said. "And I had to go to Hong Kong instead."

Laurie turned to Alex's sidekick, Carl. "I suppose you had to go to Hong Kong with him," she said sarcastically.

Carl shook his head. "No," he replied seriously, "I made the trip to Argentina as scheduled."

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