Today, the National Geographic Channel had the finals of the National Geographic Bee, one of the scholarly competitions that need to be promoted much more than they are.
The ten finalists, nine males and one female, comported themselves extremely well, and made anyone proud that we have some extremely brilliant students of 13 and 14 years of age to give us hope for the future.
But when one saw people on the streets who were asked very basic questions on American geography and history, the response was absolutely pitiful, as compared to the difficult questions on World Geography, which required sophisticated knowledge by these young scholars.
And also noticed was that the vast majority of the ten finalists were of Asian heritage, with most from Indian heritage, and one of Chinese heritage. Only two of the ten were so called Anglo Americans!
This tells us that Asian Americans far outshine the average young person of any other ethnicity or race, and this is clearly due to the parental influence in Asian American families, over whites, African Americans, and Hispanic and Latino Americans.
This should be a clarion call for parents of all backgrounds to get to work, promote learning, and stop blaming teachers and schools for the failures of their children to excel, as the best educators are really parents, who are motivated to promote their children’s intellectual ability!
If only as much attention was paid to academic pursuits as to sports, this would be a far better nation!
Meanwhile, let everyone salute these ten very outstanding young people who make their families and themselves proud!