"It is much more of a family responsibility."
"In my house we give glory to achievement, self-respect and hard work. It's up to us to set these high expectations. And that means meeting those expectations ourselves.That means setting examples of excellence in our own lives."
That's a quote from earlier in the year, from our soon to be inaugurated President.
There's a logical flaw in that line of reasoning.
The authors claim the following: "If a student has tackled a difficult subject, it is because s/he was motivated by economic hardship [or a passion for the subject]."
However, Fred seems to interpret this as the converse: "If a student is motivated by economic hardship , s/he will tackle a difficult subject" (This is NOT implied by the original statement), and base his argument on that. There are probably millions of people who are living proof that economic hardship & an opportunity to study doesn't automatically make you prefer difficult subjects.
His argument about passion, though, is spot-on. We do need to do more to encourage kids to develop healthy passions. I don't think you can make a kid love math overnight, but you certainly can kill a kid's passion for math by not supporting it. Supporting this passion for learning though, is easier said than done. It is much more of a family responsibility, than something that can be legislated by the government in a top-down fashion.