Little Tommy was doing very badly in math. His parents had tried
tutors, flash cards, special learning centers, in short, everything that
they could think of. Finally, in a last-ditch effort, they took Tommy
down and enrolled him in the local Catholic school.

After the first day, little Tommy comes home with a very serious look on
his face. He doesn't kiss his mother hello. Instead, he goes straight
to his room and starts studying. Books and paper are spread out all
over the room and little Tommy is hard at work. His mother is amazed.

She calls him down to dinner and to her shock, the minute he is done he
marches back to his room without a word. In no time he is back hitting
the books as hard as before. This goes on for some time, day after day,
while the mother tries to understand what made all the difference.

Finally, Little Tommy brings home his report card. He quietly lays it
on the table and goes up to his room and hits the books. With great
trepidation, his mom looks at it, and to her surprise, little Tommy got
an "A" in Math. She can no longer hold her curiosity.

She goes to his room and says, "Son, what was it? Was it the nuns?"
Little Tommy looks at her and shakes his head. "Well then," she asks,
"was it the books, the discipline, the structure, the uniforms, WHAT was
it??

Little Tommy looks at her and says, "Well, on the first day of school,
when I saw that guy nailed to the plus sign, I knew they weren't fooling
around."