On Sat, 26 Jul 2008 14:56:49 +0000, Larry wrote:

John H. wrote in
:

We had one boy from Belarus who could say a few things in English. He
was from Minsk, his parents had money, he was on a dance team that
traveled internationally, and he'd picked up a lot of English in his
travels. But he was the only kid I've seen in the program who could
speak any English. They do, however, all know how to say 'no' and
'Coca Cola' upon arrival!



In the Middle East, all the Moslem kids know how to say Chevy and PEPSI,
not Coke. There are no Fords or Coca-Cola which are JEWISH companies. One
of my neighbors in Tehran was an Iranian lawyer of some stature. He had a
Ford station wagon about 15 years old and was so proud of it because it was
such a rare car, sold to him by some Americans when they left for home.
Parts to fix it were awfully hard to get. Every place you go, they serve
Pepsi in Iran or the Arab countries like Bahrain. Israel, of course, is
just the opposite.

English was taught in Iranian schools. Kids entering high schools were
taking courses in chemistry, physics, liberal arts Americans would be
teaching in the 2nd year of college! It was amazing to see the high
standards and hard work Iranian kids were doing to stay in school. Failure
was not tolerated. Those unable to cope or too lazy were moved out of the
schools to apprenticeships in industry or used as laborers. Unlike
America, the Shah didn't waste his energy on those who refused to take
advantage of the excellent education the Shah provided. The poorest
Iranian was afforded the best education, just like the lawyers' kids,
unlike here. Shahanshah used education, unsuccessfully obviously now, to
thwart the religious brainwashing of the Mullahs trying to drag the kids
back into the stone age to become their slaves. How awful.

In the public high school in which I taught, kids were taking Multivariate
Calculus, normally a 4th semester calculus course. They didn't have to be
lawyers kids, or wealthy. They simply had to work.