"Of course the scores are lower. They've changed the test dramatically, made it much longer and more difficult. It is totally unfair to compare it with scores from prior years."
Great post but it won't stop the "I walked 25 miles to school uphill both ways" posters.
In my great grandfather's day...the kids quit school to work the factories at age 9 to 12. Great grandpa married at age 14 and produced 7 children till the old gal died at age 35 during a septic child birth of the 8th child (they lost two as still borns previously). Then grandpa finished high school on account he couldn't work the slaughterhouse with my granduncles. Grandpa married grandma at age 18 (she was 14) and they had five kids. He had a snazzy job at the railroad until the Depression hit. Then he worked odd jobs along with grandma taking in boarders. Then WWII came along and foreign competition was obliterated. The businesses hired all comers and the unions contracted insane wages and promised employment for life...then the jobs went south because of low wages and no unions. Dad worked and married mom when he was in his early 20s. They had five children and four went to college...All five children make more money and have more property than great grandpa ever imagined.
That's a pretty accurate picture of the "dumbing down" of America.