IMHO, having raised two daughters, one in the 70-80's, and one 2000 era, and in local and international schools, I have seen where the problem lies - basically parents fail to properly teach and discipline their children. Seems many countries are going the way of the US where the parents think that teachers should be the ones disciplining their kids who at home have total freedom. Much of this probably stems from the mothers having to work and contribute to the household too as cost of living have increased. Lack of respect of discipline by students contributes to the decline in learning also as clearly shown in testing. The US in a typical manner for us Americans, is to throw more money at the problem but just like the other problems, more money doesn't solve the problem and in many cases just makes things worse. Parents and their offspring seem to be a big problem as shown by the changes in the birth rates, as the kids growing up without discipline now do not want kids of their own so girls don't want to get married nor have children with the problems that they face in the world today.. what is the proper solution? I sure can't fix kids other than my own but too many parents just ignore those problems.