Subject: Re: Conference moment: Lisp certification? From: Erik Naggum <erik@naggum.no> Date: 07 Nov 2002 07:09:43 +0000 Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp Message-ID: <3245641783286253@naggum.no> * Kenny Tilton | btw, it is hard to imagine study habits being a racial outcome. Clearly | there is simply tremendous scholastic competitiveness in many Asian | countries and kids just tend to end up with that work ethic. There is also the parents' attitude. In some study I read a while ago, so I cannot recall any reference to it, but I remember the details well, 80% of American parents thought their children did better than average at school, while 10% of Japanese parents thought the same. Parents were also asked whether they thought their children could get better grades if they worked harder or whether the school/teacher could do something to improve their children's grades. 75% of the American parents thought the school/teacher could do a better job to "motivate" their children. 95% of the Japanese parents thought their children could get better grades if they worked harder. Asked whether they thought they could help their children get better grades by helping them with their homework, 20% of the American parents said they did help their children with homework, and 95% of the Japanese parents said they did. If you ask me, there is only one cause for the dismal performance of the average American student: Their parents. (Norway is no different, and probably worse. Over here, virtually nobody believes their own life to be their own responsibility, but instead believe that all the world's problems can be solved by pumping money up from our oil-rich sea shore.) -- Erik Naggum, Oslo, Norway Act from reason, and failure makes you rethink and study harder. Act from faith, and failure makes you blame someone and push harder.