The difficulty of the standardized curriculum and the inadequacies in vocational education may be the main reasons that certain children fall through the cracks of going on to higher schooling or finding a job. But a careful analysis of teenagers in the Diamonds in the Rough program reveals some other, more discouraging common features.
國中統一課程太難、又缺乏技職教育，固然是導致某些孩子升學、就業兩頭落空的主要原因，但細細分析「璞玉」學生，還是可以發現一些令人無奈的共同特質。