[Film leader]
[Tone]
[Engine turbine,skydiving aircraft]
[Engine turbine sound airborne]
[Five parachutists jump]
[Engine roar]
[Apprehensive jumper]
[Parachutist exits plane]
[Suspenseful music]
[Take That First Step]
[Suspenseful music]
[Parachutist in freefall]
[Suspenseful music]
[Parachutist in freefall]
[Chute opens]
[Gliding]
[Music continues]
[Parachutist in trouble]
[Parachutist pulling downon steering lines]
[Headed for treetop landing]
[Lands in tree]
[Struggles to free chute]
[Tense music]
[POV of parachutist]
[Ken Howard:] [Shouting] Help!
Hey, help.
[Boy approaches]
Hey, help.
Hey, kid.
Run and get somebody to helpme down from here, will you?
What's the matter,didn't you hear me?
I said, go get some help.
Well, don't just stand thereand stare at me like a nut.
Go get somebody tohelp me down from here.
Go, go, get going.
[Whimsical music]
Now we're getting somewhere
[Boy running]
[Boy trips and falls]
[Footsteps approaching]
[Jill Evans:] There, Ronnie,now take it easy, huh?
Look, it's only a tiny scratch.
I'll fix it.
[Ronnie Evans:] Man in a tree.
[Jill Evans:] OK.
This isn't going tohurt, babe, come on.
Now then, that's better.
Hey, let me have alook at that face.
[Parachute ripping]
[Dramatic musical sting]
[Thud]
[Gentle music]
[Injured man unharnesses]
[Car drives off]
[Road sounds]
[Jill Evans:] There, soldier.
It's all well.
Everything's goingto be all right.
[Ken Howard:] Iwouldn't bet on that.
You're a real greatlittle fellow, aren't you?
[Jill Evans:] Leave him alone.
[Ken Howard:] Leave him alone.
Ha, ha, that's a laugh.
[Jill Evans:] Didyou hurt your leg?
[Ken Howard:] No, of course not.
I always limp thisway on Wednesdays.
It's good for--
[Ronnie Evans:] [Laughing]
[Ken Howard:] You little, little--
[Jill Evans:] Ron, the name is Ron.
Ron, honey, yougo on in the café.
Now look here, big shot.
You better just watch whatyou're saying and to whom.
This happens to beprivate property.
Either you cool it right now,or you get going, pronto.
[Car engine sound]
[Jill Evans:] Yes [?]
[Gas customer:] Fill it up.
[Metal clanking]
[Caps opens]
[Clanking]
[Ken Howard:] Look, I'm sorryfor losing my temper.
But you see, my chute gotcaught in a tree and--
[Jill Evans:] Anybody whovoluntarily jumps out
of an airplane is out oftheir skull for the start.
[Ken Howard:] If I wantedadvice, I'd write Dear Abby.
[Jill Evans:] What isit you do want, then?
[Ken Howard:] Nothing,absolutely nothing.
Oh.
[Jill Evans:] You're sure?
[Ken Howard:] I need help.
[Jill Evans:] Well, that's obvious.
[Ken Howard:] Hey, wait a minute.
Don't I know you?
[Jill Evans:] You should.
I'm in your French class.
[Ken Howard:] Hey, that'sright, you are, aren't you?
Funny I never noticed you.
[Jill Evans:] Look, why don't youjust go about your business?
[Ken Howard:] I just wantedto use a phone, you see,
because I need a lift into town.
[Jill Evans:] Thetelephone's over there.
[Passing car traffic]
[Ken Howard:] Thanks.
[Passing car traffic]
[Shuffling footsteps]
Could I borrow a dime?
[Whimsical music]
[Mrs. Howard:] But youcould have been killed.
What are you trying to prove?
Football, skiing, nowjumping out of airplanes.
[Ken Howard:] Mother.
[Mrs. Howard:] No, I'm asking you.
I'm entitled to know.
I'm an interested bystander.
[Man-in-street:] Teenagers.
[Mrs. Howard:] Well,what are you going
to do with your life, Kenneth?
What about your future?
[Ken Howard:] You almost ranover that guy back there.
If he reports you, it'll becurtains for your license.
You know, she sure isa cute little chick.
[Mrs. Howard:] Oh I don't know, who?
[Ken Howard:] What's her name,she's in my French class.
[Mrs. Howard:] Do you reallythink you'll report me?
Well, if I hadn't beenso unnerved about you.
[Ken Howard:] If-- if Ionly hadn't blown my cool
with that nitwit little kid.
[Mrs. Howard:] That little boy?
Well, he's mentally retarded.
[Road sounds]
[Gentle music]
[Tools rattling and tapping]
[Music]
[Metal wrench hits pavement]
[Clanking]
[Ken Howard:] I'd like to applyfor the job and your pardon.
[Jill Evans:] For what?
[Ken Howard:] For, you know,for acting like a jerk.
I didn't know.
It's pretty stupid of me.
[Jill Evans:] Look, it's OK.
You were all shook up.
You fell out of a plane.
[Ken Howard:] I didn'tfall out of a plane.
[Jill Evans:] OK, you didn'tfall out of a plane.
Anyway, forget it.
[Metal clanking]
[Ken Howard:] You're goingto wreck that carburetor.
[Jill Evans:] I'vealready wrecked it.
[Ken Howard:] Yeah.
Hey, you want me totake a look at it?
[Jill Evans:] It needsmore than looking at.
[Ken Howard:] Well,I'm an amateur.
But I know somethingabout motors.
[Rustling]
It's for your brother.
Is it OK?
It's real easy.
I mean that, well, it'sno problem to fly it.
[Jill Evans:] That was nice,real nice for you to do.
[Ken Howard:] I felt awful.
I mean, for the way I acted.
I guess he reallydid try to help.
[Jill Evans:] Peoplealways get hung up
about people who are different.
The trouble with Ronnie ishe doesn't look different.
[Music]
[Car passes by]
[Station wagon drives off]
[Footsteps]
What's your problem?
[Ken Howard:] I think I gavethat last guy too many stamps.
Don't worry about it.
You'll get the hang of it.
[Mrs. Evans:] Jill,will you help Ronnie?
He needs a nap.
[Ken Howard:] Heneeds a smart pill.
[Basketball bouncing]
[Classmate:] Areyou going to quit?
[Ken Howard:] I don't know.
It's kind of degrading to bewiped out by a 10-year-old kid.
Nice one.
[Ball receivedand bounced]
[Classmate:] They ought to beable to teach a 10-year-old kid.
[Ken Howard:] Sixyears old, mentally.
They ought to sendhim someplace.
That's a fact.
[Ball thuds on rim]
[Classmate:] Why don'tthey send him someplace?
[Ken Howard:] He spent threesemesters in kindergarten.
He was in the firstgrade for two years.
And then when he was8 and 1/2, the teacher
suggested to his motherthat she send him
to a special schoolfor the handicapped.
She took him out ofschool altogether.
[Jill Evans:] Because there are nospecial classes at our school.
We looked into it.
Think we're going to shiphim off someplace way away.
They want him to live inone of those institutions,
all their robot attendants.
All we need are some specialclasses at our school.
[Ken Howard:] Why don't theyhave special classes?
[Jill Evans:] They can'tfind the teachers.
[Footsteps]
[Ken Howard:] What makes you thinkthey've got robot attendants?
[Jill Evans:] Everybody knows that.
[Footsteps]
[Ladder clanking]
[Ken Howard:] Have you everbeen in one of those places?
[Jill Evans:] Of course not.
[Ken Howard:] Then how do you know?
[Jill Evans:] Well,It's just known.
It's known about those places.
[Ken Howard:] It's alsoknown about ghosts.
[Jill Evans:] Why don'tyou drop it, Ken?
All those places are spooky.
You know that.
[Ken Howard:] You've gota closed mind, Jill.
[Jill Evans:] I'm notbeing closed minded.
I'm just being realistic.
Ronnie simply isn't capableof going to regular school.
They couldn't teach himto read in two years.
We tried, too, at home.
He was just miserable, Ken.
It was torture for him.
[Ken Howard:] He canlearn other things.
It's a shame we couldn'tstay a while longer.
[Jill Evans:] I really didn'twant you to have to leave.
I could have gottenhome by myself.
I didn't want to drag you away.
[Ken Howard:] Don't be silly.
You're not dragging me away.
You're the only reason Icame to the stupid dance
in the first place.
[Jill Evans:] It's justthat when mom's away,
he won't let anyoneput him to bed but me.
[Ken Howard:] Listen,Jill, have you ever
thought about what's goingto happen to him when
your parents are gone?
I mean, years from now.
[Jill Evans:] What do you mean,what's going to happen to him?
Nothing's goingto happen to him.
He'll have me.
[Ken Howard:] That's what I mean.
What about you?
Do you realize what it'sgoing to mean-- what
it's going to do to your life?
Have you everthought about that?
[Jill Evans:] Sure.
Not really, I guess.
But what does it haveto mean, especially?
[Ken Howard:] Don't you see?
Ronnie isn't justa dependent child.
The way he is now, hecould become a full job.
[Jill Evans:] He can't help that.
[Ken Howard:] But you can.
[Jill Evans:] What do you mean?
[Ken Howard:] I mean,I don't believe
he has to be the way he is.
I simply can't believe that.
One child draining theenergies of a whole family?
It's all wrong.
And your life willbe drained away, too.
And what about your kids?
Or aren't you goingto have a life?
[Jill Evans:] Oh,leave me alone, Ken.
I haven't any choice.
[Career Day bulletin board]
[Footsteps]
[Ken Howard:] Hang on a minute.
I want to check out whichroom special education is in.
[Classmate:] I thought youwere coming to journalism.
[Ken Howard:] I am.
But I want to duck outand see this other guy.
[Footsteps]
[Dr. William G. Wolfe:] And it'smy feeling that a person
is really happiest whenhe has an opportunity
to be of service to others.
When he has an opportunityto be creative.
Now in special ed--
come in, young man.
There's a chair overhere in the middle.
So how come you're so late?
You get lost?
[Ken Howard:] No, sir, I hadtrouble making up my mind.
There are too manysections to choose from.
[Dr. William G. Wolfe:] Yeah, thereare a lot of sections.
Well, I'm sure glad you'vegiven us a try, though.
But I'll try mybest to convince you
to go into special education.
How's that?
Now, as I was saying, theprofession of teaching
affords us with an opportunityto really be creative.
It's like creative writing,journalism, engineering.
But in teaching achild, you really
have this opportunityto be creative.
Because you can seehim grow and develop
as a result of yourown creativity.
Now, in a few days, we'regoing to arrange some visits
to schools and programshere in this area.
And this will give you people anopportunity to go out and visit
the children, seethe children, talk
to the teachers who areworking in this field
of special education.
Special educationis that program
designed to provide forexceptional children,
those children whom we usedto call handicapped children.
We believe that an exceptionalchild is any child who cannot
get along in a regular classroomwithout the benefit of special
services like specialcurriculum, special equipment,
and specialprovisions, in general.
These are the childrenwho really need our help.
For example, whenteaching the blind,
we need to provide specialinstructional methods utilizing
the sense of touch.
[Music]
They must learn to read Brailleand to use the sense of touch
in feeling reliefmaps, where they
get the fullmeaning of geography
by understanding thetopography of the country.
In the area of the deaf, weuse special teaching techniques
such as amplification, wherethe child sits and listens
to the teacher in a regularinstructional setting
but is getting theinstruction through the use
of amplified sound.
Learning to read lips ismost necessary for them
to be able to do before they canrelate properly in a classroom
or in society.
Crippled childrencertainly need our help.
In the teaching ofthe crippled child,
braces represent only onetype of special equipment
which must be usedwith these children.
Now this is whatwe mean when we say
that special educationis that area which
provides special services.
In cerebral palsy centers wecan teach crippled children
to relate to objectswhich they would
encounter in the generalbusiness of living.
These children have to learn tocontrol the muscles of walking
and talking.
They have to learn how tocontrol their musculature,
even for swallowing.
[Activities continue]
[Jill Evans:] I thought you decidedyou weren't interested in going
into special education.
[Ken Howard:] I did.
I only took this jobbecause of Ronnie.
It was all set.
It was all set for him to go.
[Jill Evans:] Look, I'mtrying to tell you mothers
been sick over it for two days.
Don't you understand?
She's worried he'llbe scared to death.
He's never been away from home.
[Ken Howard:] Oh, no.
This has got tobe the most flaked
out scene of my entire life.
I am only going because of him.
[Jill Evans:] Oh hush, you'llwake up the whole house.
[Ken Howard:] Well,let them get up.
At the risk of beinga bore, I am only
going because you wereletting him go, too.
[Jill Evans:] And only becauseDr. Wolfe twisted your arm.
[Ken Howard:] [Sighs.]
[Fridge door opens]
You want a pieceof chocolate cake?
[Ken Howard:] It's5:00 in the morning
and I have hung up 11 weeks ofmy valuable life and my summer
to be at wet-nursefor your brother.
[Jill Evans:] Now justa minute, Charlie.
I didn't tell you tobe a camp counselor.
You're the fellow that gotall fired up on this deal.
[Ken Howard:] Only becauseof your brother.
Do you think I needspecial education?
I could have hadlots of other jobs.
[Jill Evans:] Like stuffingbags at the supermarket?
[Ken Howard:] Oh, really?
Well, for your information,I could have had
a job with the Westdale Times.
Now that is the practicalway for a guy who's
going to be a newspaperman.
That is a practical wayto spend the summer.
[Mrs. Evans:] Ssh, you'llwake up the whole house.
[Jill Evans:] That'swhat I told him.
[Fridge opens]
[Mrs. Evans:] Anybody want apiece of chocolate cake?
[Ken Howard:] Look, you'vegot to believe me.
It's a terrific place.
It's a great place for a kid.
You've got to let him go.
Don't you want Ronnie toever do anything normal?
[Mrs. Evans:] Don't you see, he'snever been anywhere alone,
ever.
Oh, he'd be terrified.
I just know it.
[Ken Howard:] He'd be with me.
And I'm not going to letanything happen to him.
[Eerie music]
[Ranger:] Ronnie, Ronnie Evans.
[Hounds barking in distance]
[Eerie music]
[Scout:] [Calling out] Ronnie?
[Hounds barking in distance]
[Music]
[Music fades out]
[Footsteps]
[Dispatcher:] Yeah,that'd be fine.
KRLB helped us out last time.
Yeah, the little Maynard girl.
You tell Ted [?]we'll give him a description
right away.
Say, can you tellSergeant Murphy
what happened this morning andthey're going to broadcast it?
[Ken Howard:] Yes, Sergeant.
This morning at reveille.
[Bugle sounding reveille]
[Music]
[Dr. William G. Wolfe:] It is estimatedthat at least 10% to 12%
of any scholastic populationhas problems severe enough
to require the servicesof special education.
These specialservices are now being
provided in many differentways in our public and private
schools.
And through theseprograms we are
able to provide these childrenmeaningful experiences which
will equip them tobecome contributing
members of our society.
[Soft flute orchestration]
One of the problems is that ofgetting these children adjusted
to social experiences withthe so-called normal children.
One of the ways to do thatwould be in a camping situation
where the crippled child,the mentally retarded child,
the blind, and thedeaf, as well as
other types ofexceptional children,
can relate with other children.
In camping, they can learnto live in a true society.
[Uplifting music]
A crippled childcan do many things
in camping, right along withthe rest of the children.
All of these children,the exceptional child,
the so-called normalchild, can join
in a very meaningful andenjoyable camping experience.
[Uplifting music]
The curriculum forexceptional children
has to be a varied one.
And in a summer camp, oneof the best opportunities
for teachingpractical experiences
is the teaching ofsurvival techniques.
This is most importantto these children.
[Uplifting music]
All children should know howto survive out in the woods
or on a lake.
Well, these exceptionalchildren need to know that, too.
The deaf child has tohave special instruction.
And this is done through theuse of finger spelling
and sign language.
[Camp leader signing]
Once they develop thismeans of communication,
everything from thenon is accomplished
through so-callednormal instruction.
[Rousing music]
[Scouts runningan obstacle course]
["Exceptional children" observing]
[Puzzle activity]
This is a wonderful opportunityto learn how children develop.
These children createa real challenge
to those of us who areinterested in developing
and educating children.
It is one of the mostsatisfying professions
you could find any place.
Now, in working withthese children who
are slow learners orretarded children,
we try to make education fun.
And at the same time try todevelop educational concepts
that will be meaningful.
We use different approachesin teaching them to spell
and teaching them to read.
And, again, I wouldhave to point out
that a socialized setting likeyou would find in a summer camp
is ideal for thiskind of instruction.
The mentally retardedchild definitely
can be educated to take hisrightful place in society.
He can go into what we callpre vocational training
and from there graduateinto a vocational training
program, which will equiphim to learn a trade.
All of this is possible onlyif special education classes
are provided these children.
One of the major holdbacks to the development
of a special educationprogram in a public school
is the severe shortageof trained teachers.
[Music continues]
The adult has anopportunity to bring
to bear upon these childrenthe experiences he or she has
had over the years.
And these childrenare most responsive
if you put thislearning experience
in its proper perspective.
You know, when a personworks with a child
and sees the child's firstreal interest in learning,
it is the most rewardingexperience you can imagine.
[Housemother counts children]
With the mentally retarded,one of the great problems
is to get them to socializeso they can relate
with their fellow man, notonly as they're learning,
but after they get onto a job.
[Music continues]
[Ken Howard taps Ronnieplayfully on head]
[Ronnie reacts]
[Ken departs disturbed]
[Soft tense music]
[Housemother shuts off lights]
[Light orchestration]
[Ronnie runs away]
[Eerie music]
You can learn so verymuch about these children
in such a setting.
For example, thesechildren, too,
are unpredictableand have emotions,
the same as any other child.
They get upset andthey take things
into their own handslike other children,
but not always for the best.
[Flashback to Ronnie departing]
It should be pointed outthat an exceptional child,
or handicapped child,is first a child,
and next a child witha special problem
which requires ourspecial attention.
[Tense music]
[Suspenseful music]
[Dispatcher:] She wantsto speak to you.
It's Jill Evans.
She's on her way up.
She wants to talk to you
[Rumbling and chair slides]
[Door slams]
[Brooding dramatic music]
[Ken searching for Ronnie]
[Brooding dramatic music]
[Tense music]
[Ronnie's letters discovered]
[Ken finds Ronnie in field]
[Dr. William G. Wolfe:] Specialeducation provides us
with one of the greatestchallenges facing
our society today.
Taking part in the program ofeducating exceptional children
is a tremendously rewardingand satisfying experience.
I just hope that as youlook at the various career
opportunities available toyou that you will consider
the needs of theexceptional child
in the area of special educationas your professional field,
too.
[Trumpet fanfare music]
[Credits]
[Epilogue music]
[Credits]
[Music builds and fades out]
[The End]