Lesson: Jobs’ Childhood

A. Reading

A Special Beginning

A car mechanic, Paul Jobs, and his wife, Clara Jobs, adopted Steve Jobs, who was abandoned at birth. Paul and Clara loved Steve very much. They made him feel that he was “chosen” and “special.”

One of his colleagues, Del Yocam, said about Steve, “I think his desire for complete control over whatever he makes derives directly from his personality and the fact that he was abandoned at birth.”

Jobs’s mother taught him how to read and write before he went to elementary school. When he started school, he realized that he already knew everything the teachers were teaching. He got bored and played pranks to keep himself entertained. This continued for the first few years. It was clear from his behavior that he did not readily accept the authority of others. He said, “I encountered authority of a kind that I had never encountered before, and I did not like it.”

A turning point came when he was in Grade 4. His teacher, Imogene Hill, watched him closely for some time and soon figured out how to manage him and motivate him to complete his work. To encourage him, she used to give him money and food. One day after school, she gave Jobs a workbook with math problems. She said, “I want you to take this home and complete it.” She showed Jobs a huge lollipop and said, “When you are done, if you get it mostly right, I will give you this and five dollars.” Within two days, Jobs solved the math problems and returned the book to his teacher.

This continued for a couple of months, and Jobs enjoyed learning so much that he no longer needed any reward. He liked his teacher very much and wanted to please her. In Ms. Hill’s class, Jobs felt special. At the end of Grade 4, Jobs did very well. It was clear not only to Jobs and his parents but also to the teachers that he was exceptionally intelligent. The school proposed that Jobs should skip two grades and go directly into Grade 7. This would provide him with more challenging material, which would keep him motivated to learn. His parents had him skip only one grade.

Source: Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

Questions:

1. What do the words “chosen” and “special” mean in the text? Explain.
2. Why didn’t Jobs enjoy school?
3. What did he do to keep himself entertained?
4. Why couldn’t Jobs accept the authority of others at school? Why hadn’t he encountered this type of authority before?
5. Why did Jobs have the desire to control everything?
6. How did Jobs’s teacher, Imogene Hill, keep him focused and engaged in his schoolwork?

B. Vocabulary Matching

Match the words with their meanings as used in the text:

| Words | Meanings | |------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------| | adopted | a) deserted/left alone | | abandoned | b) legally took and raised another’s child | | encounter | c) encourage | | authority | d) power | | pranks | e) mischief | | motivate | f) face |