The best American engineers created 20th century companies like Boeing. I highly doubt many of those engineers had the super strict discipline as children he extols in this post

There’s a difference between rote learning because you’re pressured by parents vs genuine learning for its own sake (which a lot of the super disciplined children never know)

The smartest students in my high school enjoyed learning, it came naturally whereas the ones who had a strict upbringing only got A’s by way of extreme memorisation. There’s a massive difference between these two types