News Flash: Americans Getting Dumber

A recent Washington post article talks about how our college graduates have been getting less and less literate over the last decade.

This is unwelcomed conformation of what I’ve been seeing for years; there are tons of people in college who can barely read and write — let alone do basic math. It’s depressing.

From the piece:

Gorman said that he has been shocked by how few entering freshmen understand how to use a basic library system, or enjoy reading for pleasure. “There is a failure in the core values of education,” he said. “They’re told to go to college in order to get a better job — and that’s okay. But the real task is to produce educated people.”

Other experts noted that the slip in scores could be attributed to most state schools not being particularly selective, accepting most high school graduates to bolster enrollment.

Uh, yeah. I’ve seen schools that will basically take anyone. These are people who can’t even read at the high school level. It’s sickening. Once the standards fall it’s game over, and our standards have been falling for a very long time.

China, Europe, and India are laughing at us. They know it’s only a matter of time.