I can't comment on U.S. education, but here in the UK we get record exam results year after year, despite more and more children leaving school unable to read and write properly. Schools are focusing on exam results, not real education. And you can't tell me the exams aren't getting easier to pass if results improve EVERY year for 20+ years. I saw the rot setting in back in the early 80s when CSEs were introduced. Sample CSE maths question from back then: You are shown a picture of a rectangle. You are asked what shape it is. Oh, it's a multiple-choice question - "Is it a circle, rectangle, square or triangle?" Tick the box you think is right. I'm sorry, but seeing that question made me want to puke.

It's now all about the illusion of being educated rather than knowing how to do things. A symptom of the style over substance society we live in today.

Meanwhile places like India have some very tightly focussed education, for example they have a huge number of brilliant people in the IT field. Many jobs are being lost to India. I suspect these two facts are connected.

If you want to know the reason Western economies are going down the toilet maybe you should look to the schools.