Rather, these children spoke to the need to know existing knowledge and to do well, to understand, explain, and answer correctly (and quickly). The answers of many of these children were, without prodding on my part, longer than those of most others in other schools, and some were conceptually more sophisticated. Most of these children were quite tense during the interviews. They listened closely, tried to answer precisely and quickly, and were somewhat stiff, very formal and polite. (Each, when getting up, very carefully pushed his or her chair under the. desk in the science room where we had been sitting. Most, as they left the room, said very politely, "Thank you. ") One boy came back after lunch to change his answer to the question, "What is knowledge?"