Considering the state of the Educational system in this Country, I am quite sure that my dog is smarter than the average High School Graduate ! LOL
i would not go so far as to blame the system.
I place more blame with parents...
parents who
a. never read to their kids or help them with homework or engage with them other than giving them a movie or nintendo.
b. who have no right raising off spring in the first place
my friends have many children and one can go from family to family and see the difference in childrens level of intelligence, and draw a direct correlation to said intelligence by observing the home life of the children. seems the ones who are "smarter" have parents who read to / with, do homework with, take their kids to museums and educational trips, and answer the kids questions,
to those who let their kids run rampant, do not do homework or spend time teaching their children and give them games and tvs so they are out of sight out of mind...
and yes, they ALL go to the same school....and are or are near the same ages.......heck one guys 7 yr old is 10x's smarter than another 12 yr old....
Frankly, I could care less about the "dumb" ones, as the kids whose parents teach them are going to have a nice adavantage in life... they can't all be brain surgeons, we need ditch diggers and garbage men too..
Keep all your NY ideas there.... fix your own backyard instead of moving your junk to ours...