
picturetaker, Charlie.
I agree. But what passes for 'education' now is often just enough to pass the standardized test, end-of-course, or the final.
I am no teacher, but what I tell my kids and their friends often relates as much to "how to.." in broad terms as it does to the specific subject at hand.
GIVE a man a fish and feed him for a day. TEACH a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime.
I think the situation you described is simply one of the results of the preposterous philosophy of "Everyone's a winner! There are no losers!"
Children grow up to believe they have amazing athletic prowess ("Look at all my medals!") and extraordinary mental acumen ("Look at all my A's!") and then they're shoved out into the real world and are stunned to find out the world is not so jazzed to have yet another virtual illiterate who believes he/she is the jewel in the crown.
No, the world does NOT owe you anything. You are NOT special. Life is NOT fair. We do our children a huge disservice by teaching them otherwise.
No Child Left Behind has migrated to collge campuses everywhere ,so instead of focusing on education, professors are asked to assess ( Lean Six Sigma at work), instead of students they now have customers, instead of inspiration they must provide customer service.The professor with a low pass rate has a short career because the assumption is that he or she is incompetent and somehow responsible for transforming lotus eaters into scholars.To paraphrase holy writ: Render unto caesar the things that are caesar's; render unto business the things that are business:render unto education the things that are education.