Sunday, September 10, 2006

Another item from The Atlantic's "Primary Sources"

Primary Sources:

"Motivational speakers may tell you to believe in yourself, but if you want to do well in school, you may be better off taking a more pessimistic attitude toward your own abilities. In a report detailing the various things the U.S. can learn from the Chinese educational system about teaching math and science—including the importance of national curricular standards, better training of teachers, longer school years, and extra homework—comes the news that the U.S. lags far behind Asian nations in grade-school math and science scores. This gap, however, is not for want of student self-confidence: despite faring worse on a standardized eighth-grade science test than students in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea, American students are more than twice as likely as their peers in those countries to enjoy high “self-confidence” in their ability to learn science."

It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that ain't so.
--Will Rogers


Its not how dumb you are that hurts you, it's how smart you think you are!
John Daly

While I am at it, some quotes I found on the same site as the Will Rogers quote above -- these from Mark Twain:
* I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.

* A crank is a man with a new idea--until it catches on.

* You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.

* Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please.

* Loyalty to petrified opinion never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul.

* Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it.

* Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it's time to pause and reflect.

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