Take the test

It's official: America is getting stupider. This first proof is the most interesting. Remember what your 8th grade finals were like? Well after looking at the 8th grade final exam from a school in Salina, Kans. circa 1895, I'm convinced I got it easy. Check it out. Another page has a student's responses.

Not convinced? Check out this NYTimes story. We've heard it before: Our students get beat badly in international science and math competitions. But it's a bit more complicated than that. As the NYT story indicates, our kids do quite well in 4th grade. But by 8th grade, they slip to the middle of the pack. By high school, we're downright idiots ready to perform for the Tonight Show's Jay-walking segment.

How is it that the more classes American school children actually attend, the stupider they become compared to their international colleagues? I've got one quick theory. Basic math and science skills often take a back seat to the cultural roles our schools try and play.

Here's what I mean. Just look at the National Education Association's website. That's the teachers' union that basically controls curriculum in this country. The word 'algebra' generates just half the results as the word 'gay' does. And 'transgendered' earns more hits than 'trigonometry.' Condom is more popular than atom with the NEA. Most startling is the word 'tolerance' which gets 170 hits on the NEA website. That's more than any of these school-related words: grammar, geography, spelling, chemistry, biology, physics or PE. There was one word that drew more attention from NEA – discrimination.

I wonder if we're too busy trying to indoctrinate our kids into society and not worrying enough about their basic math skills. Is it possible that all this cultural instilling is getting in the way of real school?