The problem is that well-behaved doesn't equate to better children.
To quote the YC application form "Please tell us about the time you most successfully hacked some (non-computer) system to your advantage."
Creativity, rule-bending and being outspoken are often hallmarks of innovators and entrepreneurs. But obviously patience and obedience are virtues as well. Culturally we have to make trade-offs deciding which of these we want to encourage in kids and which we don't.
It's silly to pretend there's just one way that's better across the board. TMTOWTDI.
I agree with the sentiment (TMTOWTDI), but I also think that it’s hard to stifle an interested mind. My parents let me alone to do what I pleased when I was little (play with LEGO, mostly) and that self-sufficiency carried on.
Later, I wanted to program computers, so they let me. I talked on shady IRC channels learning about network security and operating systems, and that was fine. The important thing is that there were boundaries—no giving away personal information, for example—and the ever-present ability to ask for help if I really needed it. Perhaps it’s not about refraining entirely from breaking the rules, but rather about learning which rules are okay to break.
You are borderline to the false dichotomy. Of course "well-behaved doesn't equate to better", (except if all other things are being equal), but having well-behaved children don't preclude them from being creative and so over. Agitated is not the synonymous of entrepreneurial!
To quote the YC application form "Please tell us about the time you most successfully hacked some (non-computer) system to your advantage."
Creativity, rule-bending and being outspoken are often hallmarks of innovators and entrepreneurs. But obviously patience and obedience are virtues as well. Culturally we have to make trade-offs deciding which of these we want to encourage in kids and which we don't.
It's silly to pretend there's just one way that's better across the board. TMTOWTDI.