I do not disagree that hard study can compensate for a lot. However, some students are markedly smarter, and can handle a heavier load with greater success, and, in any case, even were intelligence equal, they would come from diverse backgrounds with varying support for their studies. I agree that ultimate success has more to do with the home environment, how children are raised, and support of their activities. However, this only guarantees that, intelligence being equal, the well- disciplined student, the student with parents who are college graduates, the student from an orderly, happy home, will excel where the student who was spoiled, whose parents are barely literate, who comes from a chaotic home environment, fails.
It is the business of the schools to ensure a basic level of achievement regardless of the fecklessness of parents. They cannot go much beyond that without parental cooperation or massive resources allowing them more opportunity to compensate for the defects in the home environment. |
