God, I love the right wing rags...

For most of the 20th century, each generation of Americans scored higher on intelligence tests than the one before. The phenomenon, documented by New Zealand researcher James Flynn and known as the Flynn Effect, showed average IQ rising by roughly three points per decade across developed nations. Researchers attributed the gains to improvements in education, nutrition, and public health.

That upward trend has now reversed, and the reversal is concentrated in Generation Z, those born between 1997 and 2012, who have become the first cohort in the modern era to score measurably lower than their parents across a range of cognitive, physical, and behavioral metrics.

It's an interesting piece... If you have the demeanor to actually read it. Kids today don't.

America’s Worst Generation Is Dumber Than Us, Research Confirms The Gateway Pundit by Antonio Graceffo

How Liberals Broke Education The Gateway Pundit by Antonio Graceffo

Edited June 12Jun 12 by impulse

Does this coniside with the rise of Social media?

31 minutes ago, TedG said:

Does this coniside with the rise of Social media?

Leftism

8 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

Leftism

I read both articles the OP linked. The left has 100% dumbed down education for "equality". We now had kids with high school diplomas who can't read.

https://usareads.org/many-young-adults-barely-literate/

2 minutes ago, TedG said:

I read both articles the OP linked. The left has 100% dumbed down education for "equality". We now had kids with high school diplomas who can't read.

Trump is doing pretty well at dumbing down all education. I mean look the wife of the founder of the WWE Linda McMahon is Secretary of Education.

Give me a freaking break. I very much agree the education today is nothing like I received, but I would place a lot of blame on teacher salaries. Among the lowest paid jobs for professtionals. Silly that you pay the people you trust your children to so low.

2 minutes ago, marin said:

Trump is doing pretty well at dumbing down all education. I mean look the wife of the founder of the WWE Linda McMahon is Secretary of Education.

Give me a freaking break. I very much agree the education today is nothing like I received, but I would place a lot of blame on teacher salaries. Among the lowest paid jobs for professtionals. Silly that you pay the people you trust your children to so low.

Compared to what professionals?

I think the average K-12 teacher salary in California is ~$103K, and I think California public schools rank in the bottom 10% of the country.

14 minutes ago, marin said:

Give me a freaking break. I very much agree the education today is nothing like I received, but I would place a lot of blame on teacher salaries. Among the lowest paid jobs for professtionals. Silly that you pay the people you trust your children to so low.

Did teachers make more back in the day?

7 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

Compared to what professionals?

I think the average K-12 teacher salary in California is ~$103K, and I think California public schools rank in the bottom 10% of the country.

California has the second lowest literacy rate in the nation. In 2024 CA managed from move from 50th to 49th.

https://edsource.org/2024/3-out-of-10-california-adults-struggle-with-basic-reading/710702

1 minute ago, TedG said:

Did teachers make more back in the day?

1963-70 just north of SF where I moved coming back to America. Teachers were paid well enough to live in the same city or county they worked in. They could buy houses and raise families themselves. Now the same place they cant afford to rent or buy in those cities or counties and often have to commute 30-60 miles each way. That is a big indicator to me.

Laying no blame, just saying that is the way it is.

1 minute ago, TedG said:

California has the second lowest literacy rate in the nation. In 2024 CA managed from move from 50th to 49th.

https://edsource.org/2024/3-out-of-10-california-adults-struggle-with-basic-reading/710702

And I think the highest teacher pay.

I think every teacher should have to get a 1,200 on the SAT every three years to be recertified.

12 hours ago, Yellowtail said:

I think every teacher should have to get a 1,200 on the SAT every three years to be recertified.

Regardless of how knowledgeable, intelligent and well-trained the teachers are, if students are unmotivated to learn, misbehaving, or up all night on social media so they can't stay awake in class, it might not make much of a difference. Many factors come into play when it comes to successful education.

Just for a bit of fun.

Another bash USA thread ... great. Definitely not a Yank problem, as stated, a woke, leftist, socialism issue.

I know it really went downhill after my high school Class of 73. A few obvious reasons, IMHO ...

... merging of local schools to district schools. 4 schools merged into one in 'my' district, and one had lower test scores. But instead of improving theirs, the lower the standard across the board ... WTF. My High School was tops in the state, after the merger, dropped to #2 from the bottom, just sad.

... unionized teachers, that made more money than the residents of the town. Now an easy, high paying job, instead of a desire to teach. Total uninterested in the student, and why many lost interest in learning. Also why my taxes skyrocketed, and not, for a crap school district.

... gangs & drugs, as a class or 2 after mine, and stories of students falling out of the seats in class they were so drugged up.

Edited June 13Jun 13 by KhunLA

This is what I mean by the grade point structure, when I attended, to shortly after, and it was changed, to improve the failure rate.

Now you can pass with a failing grade. Before the merger of schools to one district, having 2 Es, and you can make them up in summer school. 3 Es and you fail, 1 F and you fail.

If this is now the standard, Buddha help the USA, my now school district, from G AI

My high school point system, though not accurate, as not even showing the E grade level. But you get the idea ..

Edited June 13Jun 13 by KhunLA

The average GPA for US high school graduates in 1965 was about 2.5

The average GPA for US high school graduates in 2025 was about 3.1

This proves that children of today are more knowable than the children of yesterday.

Smart phones/social media makes people dumber. Has killed the birthrate too as no point going out looking for sex when you've got all that porn...

AI will make it much worse, as many now have their only friend being AI.

Isn't technology wonderful?

45 minutes ago, gargamon said:

Smart phones/social media makes people dumber. Has killed the birthrate too as no point going out looking for sex when you've got all that porn...

AI will make it much worse, as many now have their only friend being AI.

Isn't technology wonderful?

Giving women choices killed the birthrate!

56 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

The average GPA for US high school graduates in 1965 was about 2.5

The average GPA for US high school graduates in 2025 was about 3.1

This proves that children of today are more knowable than the children of yesterday.

Nah, it means they changed the marking.

1 hour ago, Yellowtail said:

The average GPA for US high school graduates in 1965 was about 2.5

The average GPA for US high school graduates in 2025 was about 3.1

This proves that children of today are more knowable than the children of yesterday.

Actually, the higher GPA can be attributed to the 'dumbing-down' of curricula, and to school districts not holding students accountable. Many districts do not allow teachers to give failing grades or a score of 'zero' to a student, even if assignments are not turned in at all. Students who do not earn passing grades are 'socially promoted' to the next grade level to avoid hurting their feelings. It's not that children of today are more knowledgeable, it's that education has lowered its standards. No student left behind!

Edited June 14Jun 14 by ColeBOzbourne

This proves that children of today are more knowable than the children of yesterday.

Only in the biblical sense.

But I think you were being ironic anyway...

On 6/13/2026 at 11:39 AM, ColeBOzbourne said:

Regardless of how knowledgeable, intelligent and well-trained the teachers are, if students are unmotivated to learn, misbehaving, or up all night on social media so they can't stay awake in class, it might not make much of a difference. Many factors come into play when it comes to successful education.

More likely the education system is at fault, not the teachers or students per se.

Too much left influence within the industry and forgetting what the primary purpose is. I.e too many public servants/ bureaucrats involved who knows nothing about the mechanics of teaching, but know a lot about 'progressiveness'.

It is certainly the case in Australia.

Successful private education establishments achieve outcomes relying on rote learning, much the same some of the more intelligent posters would have experienced many years ago.

I still do mental arithmetic (remember reciting the time tables all those years ago?) to do an approximate check if the result from a calculator is somewhere near correct.

The biggest problem in my opinion, are the colleges of education.

7 hours ago, gargamon said:

Smart phones/social media makes people dumber. Has killed the birthrate too as no point going out looking for sex when you've got all that porn...

AI will make it much worse, as many now have their only friend being AI.

Isn't technology wonderful?

No need to bring Rockyroad into it.

At least in the US, the majority of public schools aren't real schools any more. They're more like public babysitting services. Keep the kids off the streets for at least some of the day.

Private schools usually do a better job, although I have no first hand knowledge of what's going on today. I haven't been in a school for 50 years. I suspect kids in private schools still get a real education.

On 6/12/2026 at 7:17 PM, marin said:

Trump is doing pretty well at dumbing down all education. I mean look the wife of the founder of the WWE Linda McMahon is Secretary of Education.

Give me a freaking break. I very much agree the education today is nothing like I received, but I would place a lot of blame on teacher salaries. Among the lowest paid jobs for professtionals. Silly that you pay the people you trust your children to so low.

...aye,there's the rub - "people you trust your children to". The politics and activism in the modern class-rooms are quite a contributor to the dumbing-down of children.

Wait until AI kicks in.... you won't need to learn to read or write..doing simple math is already a lost art.

Telling time.Justnas cats brains shrank after being domesticated so will humans when AI does everything for us.

On 6/12/2026 at 7:10 PM, TedG said:

I read both articles the OP linked. The left has 100% dumbed down education for "equality". We now had kids with high school diplomas who can't read.

https://usareads.org/many-young-adults-barely-literate/

Im guessing you cant read. 😜

I doubt the dumbing down of America was done in a short time. Generally, it would take years. When you read that museums are cutting facts on history eg slavery, it is unsurprising that this is a deliberate policy by some. Geography is a clear example where education policy is not focused. It may seem unimportant but not to be able to name a continent stands out as one of the problems with American education.

On 6/15/2026 at 8:50 AM, jas007 said:

At least in the US, the majority of public schools aren't real schools any more. They're more like public babysitting services. Keep the kids off the streets for at least some of the day.

Private schools usually do a better job, although I have no first hand knowledge of what's going on today. I haven't been in a school for 50 years. I suspect kids in private schools still get a real education.

Yes, that's definitely the hype the right is pushing lately.