Theresa MAY not survive as leader -Justice Minister resigns over Brexit policy

[DFW]

53. Ours were quite different.

The German school system, at least at a pre/university level, is a brutal competition in which they use an openly Darwinian system to weed out the weaker ones and have a true survival of the fittest. My elder daughter used to be somewhat shy, and was reticent to speak up in class, and therefore got little attention and low grades.

During her one semester "abroad (i.e. Dallas)," she suddenly got some attention from her teachers, suddenly got good grades (including in subjects not even taught in the German Gymnasium, such as astronomy and journalism), and much to her surprise, found out she wasn't as academically inferior as she was led to believe here in Germany.

After her graduation here in Düsseldorf, she said she absolutely wanted to return to the USA for college. She spent two years in a junior college in Los Angeles, and then graduated from a school in New York City combining her interest (fashion) with something practical (business). Not realizing that many of those in her school used the opportunity to goof off and party in New York City at their parents' expense, she took her school work seriously.

Shortly before graduation, she called me up and asked me what the English word "valedictorian" meant (it's something completely different in German), and why was she expected to give a speech in English before her whole class plus teachers and parents? When I explained that the valedictorian was the one who got the top grades in her class. Still somewhat bewildered, she said, are you sure, because they said that's me! Well, she gave her speech in English, and gained a self-confidence that had been building up during her time in L.A. and continued in New York. The shy little girl who was in the process of being weeded out of the German Gymnasium system as academically too weak to go on, had gradually metamorphosed into this confident young woman who was now up to facing any challenge put before her.

So my advice to any parent is to do as much as you can to make your child feel as confident as they possibly can about their abilities, and not be afraid to exploit their academic strengths, and don't let any school system tell you that they have none. It's a pure lottery as to whether they land teachers who care or not, and you can't always count on getting lucky.

It sounds like you have the right approach as well. He has the chance of becoming the next Yeats, the next David Trimble or the next Newton, and will have every chance to combine the three if he so chooses.