I am just skeptical of the "intellect means almost nothing" part...
I didn't get that vibe. It seemed to me that the intended audience was parents of very bright children (the type of children that might be extremely bored in 6th grade.)
Those parents may be familiar with paths to modest success, but not excellence. Thus, the explanation that it takes more than intellect to achieve great things.
Well said. I understood it this way, too. Great care was taken by the author to introduce the audience to the circumstances early in the article.
There may be danger in taking a few words out of context such as
Intellect means almost nothing without persistence and development. However I do understand that the lived experiences of some readers may cause the first phrase of that sentence to elicit such a strong response, or hit in such a vulnerable spot, that the rest of the sentence does not register fully.
There may be a beneficial partnership of nature/nurture, and of intellect/practice.
