"The number of pupils grew 50 percent in the last half-century"
Johnny can't think because you cannot educate the minority which is capable of abstract reasoning alongside of the majority who cannot.
It's really simple. In 1941, the HS graduation rate among draftees was 25%. This probably approximates the natural rate-but you can add 10-15% if you like to represent those who could have done so but lacked opportunity.
This means that, for 60-75% of the age 13+ population, that school should end after eighth grade.
It would then be possible to teach the remaining students to "think".
The public schools deserve every ounce of criticism directed at them, but their social mission-12th grade for 100%-is an absurdity which has never been accomplished by any human culture anywhere, and to achieve it requires so changing the meaning of education that it becomes impossible for anyone.
This means that, for 60-75% of the age 13+ population, that school should end after eighth grade.
No one wants to hear the truth. Look at the rest of the world, and the Amish. They have figured this out.
I don’t disagree with your wider point, but I question your numbers.
Why just WWII draftees rather than the entire population? " Some estimates put the high school graduation rate at the eve of WWII close to 50%."
Why just add 10-15%? Opportunity was horrible prior to WWII with the depression and parents needing to employ children on farms.
I agree that there’s a percent on the bell curve that will rarely learn to reason well, but nothing like 60-75%.
Interesting percentage, this. What percentage of Germans go to trade school, I wonder?
I agree that much of our problems stem from trying to force education on people who don't want to learn and don't want to be in school.
You make a great point in #17. The elephant in the living room is race and ethnicity. School populations, especially in inner cities, have shifted faster than the population in general. Outcomes vary between indentifiable segments of the population. The entire enterprise is at least in part aimed at blurring the distinctions.