<p>Why should it embarrass Americans, such as myself, that a fledgling nation can produce the same quality of education that we are despite severe disadvantages? You say people are people, and genetics is genetics. This feels like a nature vs. nurture debate, but don’t they both play equal roles in the performance of an individual? You say certain people will never achieve anything, but what basis do you have for that claim? I agree with your last sentence, about not coddling failures. I feel like education should be treated as a privilege, not a right. People place value on things based on the effort spent in trying to obtain it. When education is force-fed to everyone regardless of willingness, the percentage of students rejecting it will increase. If it were treated as something valuable and exclusive, then more people will flock towards it. I think that’s why people like collecting rare things or being rich; they see it as an opportunity to get recognition from others due to its arbitrarily-placed value. So, if motivation is a major factor in getting kids to learn and use knowledge, then we have to make kids want to learn. How could we make them want to learn? Well, let’s look at what kids want to do right now. Games, social networks, forums, sports… I really wouldn’t know, since I’m probably not representative of today’s generation. If we could emulate that appeal in education, then we’d be getting somewhere. Making it exclusive seems to be shot down by Joblue, so we have to figure out an alternative option. Any suggestions, residents of CC?</p>