Original subtitles

No? Okay, Theo, here's another question for you. What was Prometheus' punishment

for bringing fire to man?

He was chained to a boulder. What else?

A giant eagle came down, started pecking at him, and ate his liver piece by

piece. Perfect.

You know, it's exciting to be so near to your great mind.

Well, could you get a little nearer to my great mind?

Hey!

Now, I hope in between all of that...

But there was some kind of studying going on.

I know it didn't look like it, Dr. Hustle. It didn't. It didn't. Believe

I've seen studying before. And this.

No, no, that does not look like studying. No, I was just rewarding Theo

knowing his mythology.

Rewarding? That's the wonderful thing about being a human being. If you were a

seal, you'd get a sardine.

No, Dad, we're serious.

Hello.

Here's a list of all the characters from mythology. You pick any character.

Anyone. Anyone? Anyone.

Okay. And if you get it right, I'm not kissing you.

Tell me about Icarus. First of all, I can tell you it's

Icarus.

Hold on. Hold on. I'm just trying to fool you. That's all. Go ahead. Now,

and his father Daedalus wanted to escape the Cretan Labyrinth. Uh -huh. So they

made wings of feathers and wax. Yes, they did. Now, Icarus' father, Daedalus,

said, Son, don't fly too high near the sun because you'll burn.

But don't fly too low near the sea because you'll drown.

But Icarus didn't listen to his old man.

Beginning to sound like this house a little bit.

Anyway, his father called out to him, but Icarus kept flying toward the sun.

That's right.

His wings melted and he fell into the ocean, but his father made it safely

across.

Get down, Dad.

What's the significance of that story?

I would probably say the story advised the youth of ancient Athens against

foolhardiness, and at the same time, it reaffirmed the patriarchal system of

Greek culture.

Is this my son?

Very good, Theo.

Well, you inspire me to study.

Yes, well, you see, ever since you've been with him, he's been booking it

lately. I've just been trying to impress upon him that a hardworking woman loves

a hardworking man.

And I am listening. I want you to marry him, and I'll pay for the wedding.

Now, go ahead. Kiss him. I want to see you kiss.

We can't do this in front of you. Okay, I'll go up here.

Now, go ahead.

Come on, now. Kiss!

That's terrible.

That's the way old people kiss.

I want a steady kiss.

Justine.

know better.

She's a married woman.

Hi, everybody.

Mom, Denise stole my duck.

Oh, Lord.

Mom,

can you pray? Can you help me here? No, I think it's time that you learn to

handle these situations by yourself.

Mom.

Okay.

So, Rudy, why don't we work this out?

Why don't we share the duck?

help me out i have some very important reading to do here got it uh

you guys i am just gonna take a call and i'm gonna cut this duck in half and you

both have something to play with i'll take the front half no i want it i

want it you guys this is not supposed to happen whoever loves the duck the most

is supposed to save it from being sawed in half that'll help me decide who gets

the duck worked in the bible

I want my duck whole now.

Fine.

Olivia, sweetie, I'm sorry.

We should have asked for Rudy's permission to play with the duck, so if

wants it back, you have to give it to her, okay?

Yeah.

went to this with five children. I read the Bible a lot.

Come on, Olivia, let's go get a snack in the kitchen.

Hi.

Hi.

Is something wrong?

Me?

I'm wrong.

That's what's wrong.

We got our mythology exam back today.

one of my lousy C's.

Mom, I'm sick of killing myself for loser grades.

The night before the test, I knew I was going to get an A. Yeah, because you

told me that you were going to knock it out of the park. And I got a C.

You guys, I'm sick of being stupid.

Oh, now you are not stupid.

No, of course not. And as we told you before, as long as you work hard and

hard, we're satisfied.

That's not the point.

I'm not satisfied, Dad.

What kind of graduate school am I going to get into with the C average? Joe and

Ernie's graduate school?

Theo, perhaps you just get a little nervous when you take a test.

I wasn't nervous.

Mom, I knew that test backwards and forwards.

A master at mythology.

I probably knew more than a professor did.

Oh, well, there you go. You're overconfident. It happens to everybody.

me. May I talk, please?

No, no, dear, be still now, because I have the floor. You have what floor?

The one both of my feet are on. Thank you.

Son, this happens to a lot of people. When I was in law school, I took a test

about the Erie Railroad versus Tompkins, all right?

I was so sure of myself, I had the audacity to dispute a Supreme Court

Well, I get my test paper back, and the professor has written on the top, when

you get to the Supreme Court, you can change the law, but for now, you're a

student with a C minus.

Overconfidence. You see?

Now, this is your story of overconfidence?

Yes. Please.

Now, I had a biochem exam.

You understand me? I studied a month. I said, I am not going to let

biochem whip me.

I studied, asked myself questions, pretended I was the professor.

And I knew what I knew, so I could ask myself what I don't know.

And I became so arrogant.

I said to the professor in the classroom, as the papers were being

hope that this test will challenge what I know.

And I looked at the first question, and I was so overconfident, I didn't even...

read it through i just read two words and said i know what it is i

know what the question and i wrote at the top of the blue book ha thought you

would get me with this one didn't you read the first two

words and knew what the question was and proceeded to write two and a half

was my grade.

Overconfidence. And that's exactly what happened to you.

Dad, I read all the questions. I just couldn't understand some of them. I even

made an appointment with the learning council to find out what my problem is.

Do you have the test with you?

Son, this is multiple choice.

The answer is right in front of your face. And the first question is about

Icarus. I know.

Daddy heard me tell you about Icarus. I knew that story inside out.

These are trick questions.

Let me see this, Theo. Let me see.

Eliminate the statement that does not apply to the story of Icarus.

Honey, what's tricky about that?

It's worded in a weird way.

Now, I couldn't understand if they wanted me to pick the answer that does

or the one that doesn't.

But Theo, it's obvious, honey.

Three of the statements do apply to Icarus and one doesn't. Well, that's a

way to ask a question.

I mean, how come they couldn't just have an essay question that said, write the

story of Icarus? I would have cleaned up on that.

Because this is not Burger King.

You can't have it your way.

The professor is making up an exam.

then you have to answer that way. See, your problem is you're not even

concentrating. I stared at the question for five minutes, Dad.

Staring at something for five minutes doesn't mean you're concentrating.

I don't know why I'm talking to you guys about this.

You don't support me. And you know why? Because you don't understand me. My

professors don't understand me. Hey, I don't even understand myself.

all i want to know is why when i think i know everything i can't even answer

anything right now maybe this learning counselor could help me but then again

she probably can't understand me either she'll probably tell me to read more

about icarus Like I'm going to get a job because I know about Icarus. I mean,

who cares about Icarus? What has he done for me lately?

But I sure can relate to Icarus because Icarus' father didn't support him

either.

His father just let his wax wings melt in the ocean and let them dry.

Theo, I've looked over your essays and notebooks from class.

I hope you could read everything.

Well, that's one of the problems. Your notes are incomplete and poorly

organized. They are?

Yes, and your writing has a lot of structural and mechanical errors,

your ideas are good.

Theo, I think that you should be tested for dyslexia.

Dyslexia? What's that?

It's a disorder in which people see letters backwards or in a different

sequence, but Theo doesn't see letters backwards.

That's only one form of it, Mrs. Huxtable.

Dyslexia is a special way of seeing things. I like to call it a different

of mind.

What kind of mind?

In Theo's case, first rate. He has the brain power. He just has a glitch in the

way he takes in information.

A glitch?

Yes, he just has a problem in the way that he processes language.

Does that mean that there's nothing we can do? Not at all. There are

who can help dyslexics overcome their learning problems. All he has to do is

work with the program they've set up.

You mean if my son does what they want him to, he can be helped?

Yes. All right, well, dyslexia.

I'll fix it.

Don't jump to conclusions just yet.

Theo, when you're called upon in class, do you have difficulty finding the

correct words to express yourself?

Yeah. I mean, I know what I want to say, but I have a hard time getting it

straight in my mind.

Look, he's got it. Let's fix it.

Dr. Huxtable, I'll need to do a series of diagnostic tests.

When can I take these tests?

You can take them first thing in the morning.

Son, I hope you flunk with flying colors.

Dad, I'll do my best to let you down.

There you go.

Why are you still standing at that door?

Now, Theo said he would come by as soon as he got the results of the test. And

your standing at the door isn't going to make him come any sooner.

What are you doing?

I wanted to see what the weather was like.

You have become what you have mocked.

He's coming.

He is? Yes.

That maybe if we had fish and sparrows... Right.

Hi. Hi.

Miss Roscoe gave me the test results back.

And?

What did she say?

You guys... I'm dyslexic.

Your brother is dyslexic.

That's not funny.

Hey, Vanessa, I finally know what's wrong with me, and I can do something

it. So what is Mrs. Roscoe going to have you do? First, she's going to write a

note to all my professors, asking them if I could tape their lectures.

Then she recommended a special instructor to help me organize my

I've even met some of the people she's worked with, and they're doing much

better in school.

That's wonderful.

And to think, Theo.

All those years you were doing lousy in school and Dad called you lazy.

I know.

He has been pretty rough on me.

You must feel very guilty, Dad.

I remember all those times when Theo would bring home bad grades and you

wouldn't let him go out with his friends. And all the time he had a

disability. He'd have to sit up there in his room staring at a book.

Listening to all his friends out in the street laughing and playing basketball.

Yeah, I could hear them.

Vanessa, I don't think that this is the time for you to bring these things up.

Oh, well, I don't blame you, Mom. You must feel just as bad.

Excuse me? Well, remember that time when Theo brought home the F on the paper

and you wouldn't let him go to the dance?

It was probably his learning disability, and he was supposed to go with Wendy

Gilmore.

Wendy Gilmore. Mom, I had a big crush on her.

And remember, Theo, at the dance, she met Tommy Burns. They started going

a week later, and now they're engaged.

It took me a long time to get over Wendy.

It's almost as if you took your son's childhood away.

So if for some reason my grade should start to slip, you shouldn't just assume

it's because I'm crazy about boys.

It might just be that I have what Theo has.

Think about it.

You don't tell me what to think about. I think about what I want to think about.

Now, think about that!

Since I have to tape my lectures, do you think I can get a tape player so I can

listen to the cassettes?

Take you down to Jake's and we'll get one for you.

Actually, I already have one in mind.

It's auto -reversed, has four speakers, a sound booster, and an equalizer.

I'll bet you Jake has one. Let's go. I don't think it's at Jake's, because this

one's inside the new Corvette ZR1.

Is that car on the street now?

Yeah. Well, let's go.

We're going to buy one? No, we're going to break in one and get the radio out.

Hi. Hey. Hi. No, hey.

Hey.

No, there's no hi.

Bye.

You're too young to hide by. Come back here.

Now, where are you going?

Kim has a brand new video game. I'm going over to play it.

I thought you had a lot of homework to do. Did you finish?

No. Well, don't you think you should finish it before you go out?

I can't.

I think I'm dyslexic.

What makes you think you're dyslexic?

See, I was upstairs in my room reading. I could see that my organizational

skills weren't organized.

Plus... I started getting a sore throat.

Dyslexia.

Okay. Fine.

Fine. Then you'll do like your brother.

First of all, your brother, in order to do well in school, is studying five

hours longer than he usually studies.

So, I think you have to go back upstairs, organize your room for at

hours, and then put in another five hours of studying. How's your throat?

Much better.

I think I'll go upstairs and study.

Man, can't do anything around here.

Can't even be dyslexic.

Mom?

Olivia has amazed me yet again. We're upstairs watching television.

She hears the song only once and she's able to repeat it note for note. She's

amazing. She's like Mozart.

time to hear Olivia sing a song.

What? Let's hit it.

playing basketball with my son.

My son tells me this story of which I will let him finish the details.

Well, Mom, I've been taking classes for my dyslexia for the past three weeks,

and I got my philosophy exam back, and I got a... Ooh, this story is so good, I

just can't wait to hear it again.

I got a B+. Yes!

Yes!

Oh, I'm so proud of you. Thank you. Now, this is just the beginning.

I'm going to stay with this.

and this B -plus is probably going to be the lowest grade we'll ever see. I

think he should probably finish undergraduate school in two years

there's no sense in holding him back and going to medical school and become Dr.

what? Hoxtable Jr., you understand?

Mrs. Roscoe told you not to do that. She told you not to jump to conclusions.

You got the boy out of undergraduate school in two years and medical school,

long are you going to give him to finish that?

That's not fair. You can't put that kind of pressure on Theo.

If he's going to do anything in two years, plus maybe one, it'll be law

won't it, sir?

He will become a doctor and a lawyer, you see, and sit in the middle between

both of us.

Come on, let me think about it. I have time.

Believe me, I have time.

You know, all these good grades have made me what?

Hungry. There you go, and you're going where?

To the kitchen. Yes, sir. For some food.

Right, what?

Free food. Thank you.

Isn't that a great fit? You know, I got so happy about that grade, I decided to

play some full -court basketball.

And it's starting to stiffen right here.

And it's starting to stiffen there. Oh, let me shake it. It's just stiffening

all over. Oh, let me not stiffen it. Shake it up, baby. Twist and shout.

and shout.

Come on, come on. Come on, baby.

Let's work it on out. Work it on out.

Na, na, na, na, na, na, na.

One, thirty -two, thirty -three.

tape before a studio audience.