Americans have largely lost sight of the true purpose of education, which is intellectual training.

The rigor of our educational programs has been declining steadily for several decades.

In the name of "equality" and "democracy", we have failed to provide for the education of our brightest students. Instruction has been pitched at the level of the mediocre student systematically depriving the ablest.

The historic disciplines at the core of the true education have been crowded out by the introduction of courses consisting largely of "life adjusting" trivia, diluting the curricula of our schools.

Intellectual achievement has declined steadily among American students.

The schools are failing to meet their obligations to American youth and American society. Schools are not only failing in the intellectual task, they also are failing in their responsibility to transmit those values that are the basis of the American  tradition. (Webb, Metha & Jordan, p. 101)