Dammit...  I did it again, I hit the enter before I typed the message.

Regardless, the "Dose of Reality" post isn't quite accurate.  That treatise was an excerpt from Charles Sykes' book, "The Dumbing Down of Our Kids", written in 1995.

The rules are self explanatory but the book is a "must read" if you're at all interested in education or lack thereof in public schools.

Martin Gross, another expert who is critical of public and, in some cases, private education, makes the same observation.  He goes further to explain that even colleges, private ones, once thought to be bastions of erudition and education have fallen terribly and many of them aren't even good schools anymore.

Students can obtain degrees from universities without having the slightest knowledge of fundamental English, mathematics, history or geography.  

Everyone is told to go to college but the fact of the matter is that few are prepared to attend college.  Instead of the students preparing for college, the colleges lower their standards and admit students who have no business having a high school diploma, let alone a letter of admission to college.

We've made the mistake of instilling the message that college is the sole route to success.  There is nothing wrong with trade schools, the military or even manual labor.  The idea that college is for everyone is total nonsense.

Anyway, enough from me.  I just thought I'd chime in and credit the proper source for that writing.