An eleven-year-old Jewish boy was failing maths. His parents tried everything from tutors to hypnosis; but to no avail. Finally at the insistence of a family friend, they decided to enroll their son in a private Catholic school and take him out of the Jewish school.
After the first day, the boy’s parents were surprised when he walked in after school with a stern, focused and very determined expression on his face. He went straight past them, right to his room and quietly closed the door.
For nearly two hours he worked away in his room with maths books strewn about his desk and the surrounding floor. He emerged long enough to eat,and after quickly cleaning his plate, went straight back to his room, closed the door and worked feverishly at his studies until bedtime.
This pattern of behaviour continued until it was time for the first term’s report. The boy walked in with it unopened laid it on the dinner table and went straight to his room. Cautiously, his mother opened it and to her amazement, she saw a large black ‘A’ under the subject of Maths.
Overjoyed, she and her husband rushed into their son’s room, thrilled at his remarkable progress. “Was it the nuns that did it?” the father asked.
The boy shook his head and said “No.”
“Was it the one to one tutoring? The peer-mentoring?”
“No.”
“The textbooks? The teachers? The curriculum?”
“No”, said the son.
He explained:-
“On that first day, when I walked in the front door and saw that guy nailed to the plus sign, I KNEW they meant business!”
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