From: blockedofcourse@foo.invalid   
      
   On 11/30/2025 2:30 AM, Liz Tuddenham wrote:   
   > Don Y  wrote:   
   >   
   >> On 11/29/2025 6:11 AM, albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl wrote:   
   >>> Compare to Chinese education. The untalented are brutally weeded out,   
   >>> before they enter the university. OTOH a talent in rural areas seldomly   
   >>> gets unnoticed.   
   >>   
   >> I think this goes to the cultural aspect.   
   >>   
   >> I recall a power outage during my first year of school.  I took   
   >> the opportunity to wander across camps with an oversized balloon   
   >> full of N2O thinking it the perfect excuse for a party -- to share   
   >> with friends who lived on the other side of the main campus.   
   >>   
   >> Halfway there, I passed through one of the main lobbies and   
   >> found the adjoining stairwells lined with oriental students   
   >> sitting under emergency lights working on homework!  Really?   
   >> How long do you think the outage will be that you need to   
   >> hoard every possible "study opportunity"?   
   >>   
   >> Do their governments/sponsors hold them to some particular   
   >> standard for the "privilege" of studying abroad?  Or, is this   
   >> just a normal behavior, regardless of circumstance?   
   >   
   > I was a technician at a university, in a lab where students had to   
   > operate and modify a rig meant to represent an industrial process.  It   
   > needed an extra hole drilled in the aluminium backplate and the students   
   > couldn't find the power drill (we only had one).   
      
   The rig needed to be fixed -- your job, not part of the students'   
   assignment?   
      
   > I found an old hand drill in a drawer and they looked incredulous when I   
   > told them it could be used to drill a hole.  As I went to demonstrate   
   > it, the oriental students gathered round to watch and ask questions -   
   > the European students gave me a dirty look and walked out.   
      
   I was restricted to the hand drill and brace when I was young as   
   my folks feared the sorts of things I would do with an electric   
   drill, sabre saw, router, etc.  They figured the manual nature   
   would put a limit on the effects I could have on my "surroundings".   
      
   [They didn't realize how much material I could remove with a   
   jointer and a determination to master it's use.  The edge of my   
   Dad's workbench proved a handy test piece!  And, a persistent   
   reminder of my efforts for the next decade (before I left for   
   school)  :<  ]   
   proved   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)