(disclaimer : I'm French). Instead of answering the US-bashing comment, better read what Nikola Tesla has to say about the US in 1919 :
I wish that I could put in words my first impressions of this country. In the Arabian Tales I read how genii transported people into a land of dreams to live thru delightful adventures. My case was just the reverse. The genii had carried me from a world of dreams into one of realities. What I had left was beautiful, artistic and fascinating in every way; what I saw here was machined, rough and unattractive. A burly policeman was twirling his stick which looked to me as big as a log. I approached him politely with the request to direct me. "Six blocks down, then to the left," he said, with murder in his eyes. "Is this America?" I asked myself in painful surprise. "It is a century behind Europe in civilization." When I went abroad in 1889 - five years having elapsed since my arrival here - I became convinced that it was more than one hundred years AHEAD of Europe and nothing has happened to this day to change my opinion.
The story of Yuri Nosenko looks very similar to the main protagonist of Zweig's last book, written in 1942. A must read about solitary confinement, about chess, about the Nazis, about a lot of things actually.
That’s particularly true of girls and math, apparently because some girls assume that they are genetically disadvantaged at numbers; deprived of an excuse for failure, they excel.
Our conditionment plays a very important role in limiting or improving our abilities. Doing maths is solving problems. During this process, having empowering believes about oneself is crucial.
I remember when I learned how to dance. The first thing I had to fight was my own belief that as a geek, I was good at maths but supposed to be akward at dancing. Not giving up is much difficult in this condition, but the reward is of a greater kind when you fight this particular demon. Believing in yourself is first and foremost refusing to let the outside world determine your idendity. Reality is complex and we are too multi dimensional to be fit in one category or another.
Instead of focusing on abilities, I prefer to focus on the center of interests of someone. Passion is the master, ability is the servant. While it's true we don't have the same potential in every area, we never know what we are capable of until we try it. And trying is precisely to challenge our inner beliefs, daring to face the unknown.
I wish that I could put in words my first impressions of this country. In the Arabian Tales I read how genii transported people into a land of dreams to live thru delightful adventures. My case was just the reverse. The genii had carried me from a world of dreams into one of realities. What I had left was beautiful, artistic and fascinating in every way; what I saw here was machined, rough and unattractive. A burly policeman was twirling his stick which looked to me as big as a log. I approached him politely with the request to direct me. "Six blocks down, then to the left," he said, with murder in his eyes. "Is this America?" I asked myself in painful surprise. "It is a century behind Europe in civilization." When I went abroad in 1889 - five years having elapsed since my arrival here - I became convinced that it was more than one hundred years AHEAD of Europe and nothing has happened to this day to change my opinion.
-- extract from "My Inventions"