I think the parents have a big influence on how young people see education. If parents don't think that education is valuable - their children probably won't see much benefit in it. Also- young people need to see that the education is meaningful to them. Many of them think "Why should I study history? I want to be a computer scientist." It's a challenge to help young people see that learning about all kinds of things is valuable.

" 孟母三迁" It has been known to all educated Chinese people that the enviroment, the people around you have the big influence to your education. If you are Chinese, you should have known the answer.

The type of learning environment, their personality, and their drive to succeed (e.g., people with no ambition ("drive") don't try to do well in school, and therefore do poorly, while people who have ambition want to get somewhere, and *try* to do well.) Of course, this is a only generalization, and it also doesn't cover every possible aspect. ^.^