[jec41]

As usually you attack with opinion. I am very familiar with our school system and the abilities of the graduates. The article said "It's compulsory to pass this exam to get into college in India" You made that "lets pull our top 5% drill them on this stuff they will fly through it just as easily as their Indian counterparts." Why not the 70% that attend some collage in the US. Take it to your local school. Less than half the teachers could pass it. A 650 SAT score will get you in a local community teachers collage. You might want to google up where US high schools graduates rank in the world and I'm not going to do it for you but if I remember correctly was 24 out of 25 top countries.

[ARCADIA]

"In India, statistics (UNESCO 2006) show that:

- The net enrolment rate rose to 88% in 2002
- Only 61% are still in school by the time they reach age 10
- Drop out rate is 39%.

There are vast differences within states and between social groups, with very low rates of enrolment reported for socially disadvantaged groups such as scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. 50% of scheduled caste and 56% of scheduled tribe children drop out of school.
In India, a recent report showed that 44% of children between the ages of 7 and 10 could not read even a simple paragraph. Teaching is still done by traditional rote learning methods, corporal punishment is rife, and children are often taught in a language they do not understand (Annual Status of Education, 2006)."

IIRC about 30% of the male population and 50% of the female population is completely illiterate.

"Despite its expansion, enrollment in higher education in India today accounts for barely 6 percent of the relevant age group" *

*quoted from here:
http://www.gse.buffalo.edu/org/inthigheredfinance/region_asia_India.html