Update, Part 2

Yesterday's post garnered some interest from friends and former colleagues, so I'll write a bit more. In the past 24 hours, my beloved wife and I have received some photos from our daughter who is now vacationing in Curacao, off the coast of South America (the only continent, other than Antarctica, that I've never been to). Joyce works hard, and I'm glad she's getting the chance for a break.

In addition, yesterday afternoon I was leaving for the dry cleaners when I noticed a package left by our back gate: my son Matthew has bought me a new laptop to replace the one we have been unable to fix. This might sound innocuous, but at a time when too many 26-year-olds are still living with their parents who continue to support them, to have the support flowing in the other direction in our family (at least until I can increase the income coming from my new business) is a welcome, if uncomfortable and a bit guilt-inducing, relief.

Third, Facebook today prompted me to befriend Linghao Kong, a former student of mine who has now started at Columbia. This brings me back to the subject of my tutoring Ryan's classmates for the last few years. To the best of my knowledge, they have done uniformly well. Lucy was kind enough to pay for our dinner when we visited her dorm at Berkeley last month; she has started well there. Janice, now at UCLA, studied with me a bit longer than either of the two above, so I count her scores with those of Seong Su Park (UC Irvine -- and all of these students were accepted into their preferred majors, and are starting with sophomore status) and Ryan among my first graduating class, whose average ACT score, 34, was higher than that of the highest scoring institution in the United States, Hunter College High School, whose average is 32.6. I write this in spite of the fact that I don't give much attention to either the ACT or the SAT, instead focusing my instruction on the Advanced Placement level that actually qualifies students for the free college for all that Senator Sanders is promoting based on the Scandinavian model, without seeming to understand the much higher standards that students in Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and similar northern European nations must meet in order to qualify for public funding of higher education through the master's degree level. I want to bring that system to the United States, and am still trying to find leaders willing to listen in case they actually want to learn how such results are being achieved with American students.