My goodness, your view of history is really, really, really distorted.
The vast, vast, vast, vast majority of kids in the 17th century did not think it was “cool” to do well academically, because the vast, vast, vast majority of kids in the 17th century had almost no formal education or schooling. Only the super elite and children of the wealthy even had any real opportunity for education. And that education was not necessarily “rigorous” despite whatever romanticizing of the past you engage in.
Pretty much everything you stated was ahistorical gobbledygook. It just isn’t true.
Oh if only there was a time machine to send kdkhan back to the 17th century as an average kid… then he could see for himself…
“mocked by my pears.” - that one is a keeper.
This thread is either a performance art piece, a prank gone awry, or a sociology experiment.
“I am mocked by my pears”
It really sucks when fruit makes fun of you, especially when you’ve been lamenting the decline in educational standards of your fellow youth.
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
I think this thread has run its course, at least as far as the original question posed. Even the tangents are going around in circles. Therefore, I am closing.