Chung,
I really don't know how old you are, or what your background is, but I am constantly amazed at how often you state things as fact that are totally untrue.
The expected level of education in the US during the Truman years was LOWER than today? Sorry, totally wrong on every level.
The kids that graduate from high school today are grossly under-educated compared to the kids who graduated from high school 50 years ago. They are, for the most part, functionally illiterate.
The graduates of 50 years ago were well versed in history, English, and most of all mathematics. They could recite the multiplication tables through the 12 tables straight off of their heads without blinking an eye. They could set up and solve equations in their heads, using basic geometry and algebra. They had read all of the great classics of American and English literature. They had a good knowledge of world history from the time of the Greek Empire through the present. They could apply practical mathematics to practical every day problems, including carpentry and mechanics. My mother, who went to high school in Alexandria, Virginia, when it was still a tiny town, could read and write Latin with ease! They wrote long letters to each other, in beautiful flowing prose, using proper grammar.
And when they went to college, guess what?. Two years of a foreign language was required, or they couldn't graduate. So too with college level chemistry, college level physics, and advanced mathematics. Todays basic liberal arts degree in an average college is an absolute joke compared to what it was 50 years ago.
These are the people who won World War II, because they knew stuff and they knew how to do stuff that kids today are clueless about. These are the people who could go straight to a city college or an Ivy League school without stopping off for two years in a Junior College to learn how to read and write, and add and subtract.
Today's average high school graduates are pathetic compared to those of 50 years ago. The newspapers are full of stories from college professors today, who complain that the entire first year of college now has to be spent on remedial education for the high school grads who show up, because they are basically illiterate.
I remember reading an article about 10 years ago, where a college professor gave his freshman an exam, typically given to Eighth Graders back in 1910. They all flunked it!
Chung, we all appreciate hearing from you, and sometimes you have some insightful ideas. But please don't just say whatever stray thought comes into your head and state it as fact.
And Chung, since the U.S. government created the Department of Education and decided to interfere with education just 40 years ago, they have spent BILLIONS of your tax dollars on educational programs, and the level of education in the U.S. has fallen from second highest among industrial nations, to 30th!
Regards, Mannyrock
