How much of the "stupidity" of american students has to do with how we value education and how we position our students. It all reminds me of a documentary of where they were following a school that raised its college acceptance level from a very low rate to close to 100%. Unfortunately they didn't know how to deal with their 50% drop out rate. Now, if they were adequately serving all their students, they might have a 50% acceptance rate and 50% graduating with a different set of skills. I worked with a woman who was on the local school board. She would complain about how kids had a 6th grade reading level then talk about how they needed to up the standards and require a foreign language. I could never get her to understand that requiring someone who couldn't read didn't need higher standards (they were already failling the ones set) or foreign languages or to prepare for college, they needed to learn how to read. As the percentage of students that enter college rises, can we not then expect that the average level of intellenge will fall compared to the 1950's when only a small percentage entered? Europe has understood this for ages, and by nineth grades starts seperating out kids for different types of education. If I remember right, my cousin went into an appretance type program for auto repair when he was 16. This prepared him to take over his father's business at a younger age. No need for him to learn advance chemistry, he needed to learn how to repair cars and balance books. Last I heard, he is quite successful. I, on the other hand, went to four years of college. The one time in 20 years I had to use advanced calculus, I couldn't remember the right formula. Finally I did the right thing and asked someone who focused on that field. Even he couldn't remember the formula and had to look it up for me.

My child is mildly autistic, and while very smart and capable, he will not sit still for a long test. So while he knows a lot, he will never score high on a standardized test. That said, we were already informed when he started school that the WSL had no exemptions (at that time). The appologized but said that regardless of his intelligence or ability, all students had to take the test. I wonder how that skews the numbers. Especially considering that so many children with limited abilities are now main streamed.