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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (16195)	11/14/2003 11:41:03 PM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793622

I've yet to find something which I think Uncle Thomas is wrong on, though I think he over-rates what education can achieve. You have to expect him to land on the side of "Nuture." He went from a very poor BG to the Marines to Harvard. When he got there he almost flunked out. His buddies sat him down and explained just how hard he would have to study. From then on he spent his weekends in the Library. I have come to the conclusion that drive is more important than brains. Just too many high IQ people who have not done well, compared to average IQ that have done better. I am a prime example. I was always lazy in school and just got by. My daughter had the drive. My sons never did. My oldest son finally faced reality when he was about 24, buckled down, and has done well ever since. My Japanese son-in-law, with a PHD in Chemistry Father from a Maui plantation, now has a EE and a JD, and is with one of California's top Law Firms. He spent every evening as a kid and teenager at the kitchen table with his Father ready to give him hell if he didn't do well. My Grandchildren by him are doing just as well, while my other Grandchildren are watching TV and paying the price. This new book, "No Excuses: Closing the Racial Gap in Learning," is outstanding at pointing out the cultural gap that causes blacks and browns to do worse in school than whites, who are beaten by an equal margin by Asians and Indians. I spent years setting at people's kitchen tables in the evening selling them home improvements. The Asians have their kids doing their homework. The Blacks have their kids watching TV. Read Sowell's Bio, "A Personal Odyssey," if you can find a copy on that benighted island of yours.