Are America's Schools Producing Stupid Students?

What are your thoughts on our school systems of today? I seriously think something is going wrong with our school systems, and I believe a lot of it has to do with the No Child Left Behind Act. No matter what is causing the problems something seriously needs to change. I watched a documentary awhile back that really made me sick. What made me sick was that it was completely true. The special is called 20/20 Stupid In America, and if you have children or you're at all concerned about the schools in our country I suggest you watch it.

Unfortunately just watching that special isn't the only thing that's got me worried about how horrible our schools are today. I seriously believe our schools are now based on how much money the school district gets for good test scores instead of how well our students do at the things they should be learning. I may have graduated only 7 years ago, but things have drastically changed since my high school days. I've tutored 3 kids over the course of the last 7 years, and things really make me sick. There is no reason I should be tutoring these kids because they're all bright kids. They come to me to learn the basics like math, science, and history because they aren't being taught these things!

For instance, I'm tutoring a college sophomore right now. He was in advanced math classes in high school. He took calculus and trig, but now in college he's in a remedial math class because he can't do basic algebra. Another kid I tutor is a junior in high school. Her entire freshman year was devoted to classes that taught her how to pass the state tests and classes that taught her to be a high school student. Half of her first semester was considered "freshman orientation". I mean come on! My freshman orientation didn't happen until college, and it was a 2 day event in the middle of the summer. No one had to stick us in a class to teach us how to be high school kids! The 3rd child I tutor is 12 years old and in 6th grade, yet when I started working with her in May she could barely read an entire children's book by herself. It's not because she's stupid. 5 months later I have her reading books that my adult friends and I read, and she absolutely loves to read. We meet once a week for a tutoring session and most of the time she's asking to borrow another one of my books.

The real question is, why am I having to teach these kids these things? Why am I teaching a 12 year old how to read? Why can't a college student who took advanced match classes (and made good grades) do basic algebra? Seriously what is wrong with our school system today?