When I was a child, I spoke like a child... It's from Scripture. I always liked the many ideas this passage offers. Over the years, and thinking about it, I realize that speaking like a child has many meanings. Some people will always "speak like a child." The question is why.

I think it's a matter of three very important things: vocabulary, willingness and possibilities.

If one was to go back in history, one would see that at one time perhaps 1000 years and as late as 600 years ago, when there was precious little middle class, the other two classes ( those who worked for those who protected) were really divided by these same three things: vocabulary, willingness, and possibilities. The common man had a vocabulary of about 600 words. Because he could not express himself, his willingness to try new things was hampered, and because he didn't have the experience, life's possibilities were hidden from him.

As the middle class emerged from fiefdom, three things happened: vocabularies necessarily grew with new work and new responsibilities. The willingness to better one's life grew, and the possibilities appeared as they always do with knowledge.

As the centuries have passed, the middle class has taken over the West one generation at a time. Most of us are middle class and will be middle class all our lives. But there seems to be a desire for something better than our parents had. We watch Hollywood with that vague hope that one day we may become one of the elite. Unfortunately, that drive is usually down money lane.

When I was a child and living in Pittsburgh, the goal of nearly every household was to join a country club. This core of culture separated people by every possible standard. If you were anything but Mainline Protestant or Caucasian, your "invitation" to nearly any country club was out of the question. The country club was a clear division of the classes. My father belonged to a men's club so prestigious that during a fire, men were sent back to their apartments to get neck ties because even in a fire, they could not be in the Ladies Dining Room without a tie. Talk about stupid.

Today, the core of culture is still separating people into classes. I believe it happens in puberty and it happens not so much because of race or creed, but solely by the will of the adolescent. There comes a time when a child decides that a vocabulary is either a good thing or a dumb thing. Those who turn towards words, communication, expression and thought will separate from those who turn toward other things - the cool of the crowd.

Those who develop a vocabulary will have the keys and the ability to experience new things with the right questions and the right interest. Understanding grows, intelligence grows, interest in many diverse things grow. These children are now separated from the "huhs." As the mind grows, the willingness to explore grows. More becomes more. The world of possibilities opens up and invention, discovery, and thought offer the thinking child, who quickly becomes an adult, a whole world that the children who passed by vocabulary have missed. This, I think, is where division of the classes is most apparent today. This is where "When I was a child..." begins to take on new meaning.

From the beginning of a human's life, vocabulary is a crucial part of education. It begins at two when sentences are forming. Teaching children new words to use is not an extra but an essential. Teaching a child to use many words, different words, expressive words will encourage him to make the better choice in years to come. The importance of words will, in this day and age, make his life a better life.