i remember reading a comment about TV once.. the speaker complained that TV in and of itself wasn't bad... but how it was used. he said it was if guttenburg, after inventing the printing press did nothing but print comic books for the first three hundred years.
i suspect Boz and Jim, that there are many smart kids in your school... but for many reasons, they have not caught the reading and love of knowledge bug.. they have good minds, that they let stagnate.
i also think, that through the years, many great minds have been lost. in the past, its was disease and poverty, early death and intolerence to new ideas that were the major problems.
the real sadness of this modern world, is, this is best time in history, more people have access to schools, books, information and the accummulated knowledge of the ages, and only a small percentage is taking real advantage.
