these people are so profoundly, entirely wrong. but i suppose if your vision of education is that little tommy has to compete with little wang in the new green global economy of the 84th century - the vision of flash gordon or thomas friendman - then this makes sense. personally, i'd just give little tommy a club and send him to china. the competition between tommy and wang is as to who can think least: whose thinking is most mechanical, i.e. closest to excellence.