I'd consider myself a fairly bright person. I have exceedingly diverse interests, and a can talk in depth and with authority on politics, classical and contemporary music, literature from 1600 to the modern day, current theories on psychological development in humans from birth to adulthood and so on...

In addition, my partner is currently studying to become a teacher. She has equally diverse interests, and is also extremely bright.

Now, with her insight into the British classroom, I've come up with a theory: very few children are incapable of learning to be highly proficient in maths, English and the logical deductive reasoning and research in the quest of knowledge.

Where failure comes in is where the child, due to the influence of their peers, parents, or some other social pressure feels that they don't actually care to learn these things. It is not that it is beyond them, it is simply that they either passively don't see the need, or actively resist being taught.

This would fit well with the available data, as I can easily imagine (just from thinking back to my own school days) around one in five children believing that what they were being taught would have no relevance in the real world.

So the question that I'd like to ask is, how, as a teacher, could my partner try and beat the odds and ensure that the students entrusted to her care are prepared for the world they'll enter as adults as best as possible?

Suggestions on the back of a postcard, or in the comments below. Whichever...