That’s almost the truth——if you can’t compare interest rates, or compute the price of two items on a menu. THAT is terrible! I would expect junior high school students to be able to complete those tasks.
I'd put it even earlier. Our boys had to be pretty proficient with fractions and percentages in elementary school, and so for that matter, did I. My former mother-in-law had an 8th grade education, and I'd stack her up favorably against many college graduates I meet today. It's just another form of inflation - everyone has to have a college diploma, so the rigor of the college curriculum is reduced to permit everyone to succeed.