Summary

Asking the right question is the only way to elicit the right answer. Large problems facing the country are defined largely in the press. It’s a busy world. Most people don’t have time to delve into the facts of such issues. If the articles that are available about the problem sound logical, then most people will buy into it. It is conventional wisdom that students fare better with good teachers. However, in-depth research indicates that children who do well in school are those children who have parents who advocate learning and guide their children in developing a good work ethic vis-à-vis their school work and studies.

In the year 2000, a young man named Takeru Kobayashi, Kobi for short, was an economics student at Yokkaichi University. He and his girlfriend lived on a shoestring budget hardly able to...