I enjoyed an article in the National Post today about Hilary Swank, part of the press coverage of her upcoming movie "Amelia," about Amelia Earhart.

The article gives a bit of background about Swank, who apparently grew up in a trailer park in Bellingham, WA. What her mom told her was "You can do anything you want to, Hilary, as long as you work hard enough."

Wow. Here's a woman living in a trailer park, and she can nail the point that most of educational academe misses. Pretty much no one who works in education needs to live in a trailer park these days, and yet they can only formulate the first part of the message. I don't remember ever seeing that last, crucial part offered to kids by the system... maybe individual teachers get it, but as a system, they don't.

I wonder why...?