The Soviets launched Sputnik on October 4, 1957. Academic panic followed.

By 1960 we had devised programs to identify and isolate "academically gifted" students and provide them with an "enriched" program which would somehow eventually allow us to catch the Soviets in space. At Lincoln Junior High School in Santa Monica California, the idea of an "XL" program was extended to XLLD, adding the notion of "Leadership Development". At that time, the instrument used for sorting out these youngsters was the California Test of Mental Maturity (CTMM), a test highly loaded toward verbal skills, with questionable "right brain" assessing ability. A score, or "IQ", of 132 or above qualified for inclusion in the XLLD program. I faced the first thirty-two thus identified entering 7th graders, for English, Math, and Social Studies, in September 1960. It was an experience not to be forgotten - filled with challenges, rewards and a really fun bunch of kids.

As the summer of 1961 approached, Joseph E. Day, Principal, pondered the idea of a special program for the summer, and Fred Gruenberger of the RAND Corporation entered the loop. What followed was like a whirlwind blowing through the halls of Lincoln. Fred, not having a valid Secondary School Teaching Credential, needed an accredited teacher in the classroom. He insisted that the teacher not simply sit in the classroom, but TAKE the class WITH the students, thus assuring that there would now be at least one schoolteacher who was familiar with computing. I think it was more important for Fred to have one enlightened teacher than to have 30 illuminated students.

That decided, the Gruenberger dynamo that was to become a familiar site at Lincoln, prepared the materials, arranged for an IBM 1620 computer, with CE, even funding from IBM for a motion picture documentary of the event.

The 32 "jumping jacks", of course, distinguished themselves, convincing everyone that age and a college degree were certainly not a requirement for taming a computer. The Open House, at the end of the six weeks, was a graduation ceremony which highlighted the success, and dramatized the importance of such programs to students, parents, and teachers - sadly not those responsible for creating educational policy.

The program was repeated during the summer of 1962, and again in 1963 when the "resident teacher" was the first to finish ahead of her charges and was quickly hired as a System Programmer by a major aerospace corporation.

By 1964, IBM had tired of the idea and Fred convinced Control Data to supply a 160 computer. It was my turn to act as "faculty student". The students again distinguished themselves, creating a program to type the Open House invitations with each parent and student name inserted at the appropriate place. Word Processing with Mail Merge on a primitive computer programmed in machine language with a typewriter and paper tape - by 7th graders!

1965, the last year, Fred again had an IBM 1620 computer, taught a class in the morning, while I took another group of students through an afternoon session.

Several films were made, sadly most are gone. "But How Do I Make a Flowchart", documenting the 1965 afternoon session has been committed to video and is alive and well.

The tragedy is that the vision of Fred Gruenberger was ignored by those responsible for educational policy, and is now lost in the rush to computerize our schools mostly with functions previously served by the school library. Little or no attention is given to Fred's passion, Problem Solving! His love of Number Theory and his favored expression "It comes under the category of Cat, comma, Ways to Skin, the," lured students into serious mental activity, exploring the various routes to obscure solutions.

Alas, there are all too few Fred Gruenbergers.

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