A friend of mine has a kid. He's a smart kid - you know, the kind that's interesting to hang around with, even if your age gap is almost 20 years. He goes to school (obviously), and the teachers think he's really smart (that's a no-brainer).
But he's hating it.
He hates his school, he hates all the classes. He's not putting any effort into anything.
That's a shame, because he's the kind of kid, who gets everything without really trying - never needs an explanation, or more examples to grasp something new - it all fits naturally into his head.
Shame, shame, shame. As it turned out, teachers and parents weren't the ones to blame.
I once landed on the website of Emily Johnson, on her interview page, where she was sharing her story of why she turned to essay writing services. Her argument was that she was failing miserably at her haiku block in literature.
That's when I thought of that kid.
His problem was a total discouragement, and not lack of understanding, as it is widely believed.
When I asked him, what the problem was, he couldn't tell me. Not because it was a secret of some sort, but because he didn't know.
I do think that the next generation is going to be better than us. They're already smarter, calmer, more "no bullshit" than us. 
But what's the deal with this total discouragement?