Actually, if you read the article "debunking" it, it doesn't debunk it at all. It justs tries to say that it doesn't mean anything, that knowing those things when you are in the eighth grade doesn't mean anything to you when you're 40, and that there is much more to being educated than being able to answer those questions.
Thats an opinion, but its not the same thing as "debunking" it.
Thank you. You said it much better than I. I suspected that the piece could very well be a slanted attempt to make our current educational system appear lacking. Having worked in higher education for over 30 years and watched the quality of high school graduates decline I just natually tended to accept the article as true.