the mello family enjoyed long talks at the dinner table and this was very important to young craig mello. he learned to argue, to listen, and to accept if he was wrong about something. mello's first few years of grade school were difficult. he was five years old when he started first grade in a local private school. he was too young to enter first grade in the public system. he does not know if he was a slow learner, or just not interested, but he did not do well in school until the seventh grade. in second grade, mello only pretended that he could read and he was embarrassed of being talked to by the teacher. he enjoyed playing outdoors, in the woods and creeks, more than time spent in the classroom. at this time, his older siblings were great students, so his teacher's wanted him to do well. during these early years, mello had no doubt that he would be a scientist when he grew up.