Reply #126: I agree with your post. [View All]

[FlaGranny]

I must add one thing that I believe to be true - but just from my own experience. Parents are the most important factor. Parents must lead by example. This is a problem that I don't have a clue about how to fix, but the drive to learn comes from the home. Children need to be encouraged to learn and be enthusiastic about learning right from the beginning of their lives. They must be exposed to people who read, who talk about the world, about science, about how things work. In my family, this person was my father, who had a deep desire to learn everything he could. It rubbed off on his kids. The attitudes of parents COUNT - a lot. I have had excellent teachers and poor teachers throughout my years in school. I learned from both and did well with both. Without going further than grade 12, I educated myself because I had the desire to learn new things. I don't know if anyone remembers it, but some years ago there was an interactive TV program about science. The panel you were competing against were all science reporters. I took that science test and beat out every one of the science reporters. I attribute that to my father's example.

If parents have not raised their children with a thirst for knowledge, it will take exceptional teachers to instill that desire into those kids. The thirst for knowledge is the key.