Link to:
1912 Eighth Grade Examination for Bullitt County Schools
http://www.bullittcountyhistory.com/bchistory/schoolexam1912.html
How many of them took the test?
What was the pass rate?
I have no doubt that the public schools are a mess, and also that they are worse than they have ever been. But way, way, WAY too many kids are enrolled past 8th grade, and the necessity of pretending to educate the ineducable and the unwilling distorts everything.
If you think that greater than 25% of 18 year olds are capable of twelfth grade work - EVER - and however delivered - I can only ask, what color is your unicorn?