[Americans] have tremendous faith in themselves. In 1950, the Gallup organization asked high school seniors, "Are you a very important person?" And at that point 12 percent said yes. They asked the same question in 2005 and 80 percent said, "Yes, I am a very important person." Time magazine asked Americans, "Are you in the top one percent of earners?" Nineteen percent of Americans are in the top 1 percent of earners. Americans score 25th in the world in math, but if you ask Americans, "Are you really good in math?" [they often say yes].

We are number-one in the world at thinking we are really good at math.