If only the problem were confined to math. The pathetic truth is that people are being given a well rounded education, they are ignorant not just about math but about language, history, government, literature, geography, and many other things. If ignorance had any value we would be rich indeed. The average American soldier in WWII had an eighth grade education and was better educated by far than most recent college graduates.
I agree. All the educational establishment did was lengthen the time it took to educate the young. They did not teach more information.
If you look at math books, from the early 1900’s, they were teaching, what we teach in grade 12, in the eighth grade.