Rich wrote:

> I don't know about the US having the worst education system in the world.

Definitely not. I also think that this trend is not so much related to the
educational system than to the culture as a whole.

> I have been teaching college for some years and the students that have
> come to me in the last decade are an embarrassment.  Most of them have
> not developed basic reading and writing skills.  The can pronounce the
> words they read (for the most part) but they have some difficulty in
> ascertaining the meaning of what they have read.  The essay assignments
> are in general a disaster.  But in every class there are a few students
> who are brilliant and that is the redeeming value of teaching.

>From what I hear and experience, this seems to be a widespread trend. I
don't know why and how, but it seems that many such trends are almost
global, transcending many different cultures. (I'd expect, without much
knowledge, that e.g. China is different, though. But then, I'd expect that
in some decades they eventually get caught up with this, too :)

Gerhard

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