So, JL, are we to presume this is autobiographical, or just somebody
that you admire and would like to emulate?

jlrogers±³© wrote:

http://edu.sina.com.cn/en/2005-02-07/30576.html
Public schools are supposed to remove barriers so people can succeed.

No it isn't. It *used* to be that public schools were supposed to turn
out potential military officers, then later public schools were presumed
to give a good enough education for entry into low-level white collar
professions and/or college.

Nowadays, public schools are an alternative to juvenile detention
centers, where young people from the lower classes with no hope are
contained temporarily before releasing them into the unskilled labor
pool and/or a life of petty crime.


... For
some, the system does remove barriers and provide a solid base for
achievement. For others, the system replaces one set of barriers with
another. For example, creativity is killed by pressuring students to accept
the status quo, by establishing a fear to be different and a fear of
failure.

Or, if you are actually smart enough to learn on your own, you can
springboard into college and thence to some high paying profession,
where you can afford to carry out your dreams without blathering on and
on about imaginary restraints.

The author of the story would have done much better to focus on sailing
instead of his infantile social theories. It sounds like he did a ot of
pretty good sailing but it was left out of the tale.

DSK