How many times have I posted on FR that my grandkids can't learn that 6 X 6 = 36 because the teachers are too busy teaching Juan and Maria to say "goodbye" instead of "adios".
We didn't have these problems in the 40's and 50's when I went to school because if you couldn't cut the mustard, you simply were not allowed in school.
Thats the way it should be now.
With no special attention he managed to teach his own parents English, gain admission to Boston Latin (which then, as now, was an exam school) and go on to the University of Pennsylvania.
He still laughs about Boston Latin, because in those days one had to take four years of Latin and ancient Greek. Ancient Greek was similar enough to modern Greek that he considered that, this time through, it was he that had a leg up over the other students.
He's still alive and laughing in West Palm Beach, AKA The Land of the Living Dead.
And a hard core conservative by-the-by. He managed to get his butterfly ballot correct.