Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cwjcc!hal!nic.MR.NET!tank!mimsy!chris
From: chris@mimsy.UUCP (Chris Torek)
Newsgroups: comp.edu
Subject: Grades, education, etc.
Message-ID: <15072@mimsy.UUCP>
Date: 19 Dec 88 17:19:25 GMT
References: <5129@bsu-cs.UUCP> <4302@teklds.CAE.TEK.COM> <6125@ecsvax.uncecs.edu>
Organization: U of Maryland, Dept. of Computer Science, Coll. Pk., MD 20742
Lines: 16

In article <6125@ecsvax.uncecs.edu> skyler@ecsvax.uncecs.edu
(Patricia Roberts) writes:
>... There's a lot of pressure here not to do too well in school
>nor too badly.

Now *that* rang a bell:  Pressure not to do *too well*.  I went to your
average USA high-tech-yuppified-area (Montgomery County, Maryland)
schools for most of my K-12 education.  There was a fair amount of
peer-group pressure exerted against `brains', as we were called.
Perhaps not *bellum omnia contra omnes*, but certainly *contra genius*
[is that a real Latin word? mine has rusted almost beyond recognition].

There seems to be some social force encouraging students to be `average'.
-- 
In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Univ of MD Comp Sci Dept (+1 301 454 7163)
Domain:	chris@mimsy.umd.edu	Path:	uunet!mimsy!chris