In which we discuss the continuously decreasing education levels...

I cannot discuss places I haven't been into and educational systems I have not studied into. But I do see a trend around me of people being less and less educated.

That could be a messed up statistic based on the fact that it is much easier now for a usual person to judge the overall educational level than it was, let's say, 20 years ago, when worldwide access to the Internet was still a fantasy. Maybe the educational levels are the same, but it's just more and more blatantly obvious how some people are true idiots, for the simple fact that you continuously bump into their comments on all websites.

But let's go by the assumption that I am right and that educational levels are decreasing. What could be the cause?

1. Nowadays people do not read for fun. Students read for school, but fun means computer games, Facebook and other websites. This reduces access to educated language and increases access to words like "k", "ppl" and other Internet acronyms. No wonder "ppl" forget how to spell if they don't have much of a chance to see correct spelling.

2. As much as they insist on saying this in their campaigns, governments do not have your best interests at heart. Nowadays the politician's main priority is to get re-elected. To do that, he needs money, sponsors and backing from the main political parties. That will be what he will follow with his deeds (not the really nice things he promised you while campaigning). In truth no party, corporation is truly interested in educating the average Joe.

Rich people want for their kids a few good places where they can study - for a large sum of money that will guarantee that only rich kids and some geniuses with scholarships will have access to them. It is not in the best interest of the ruler that the average Joe be very well educated. A well educated person will question what he/she is being told and will not follow the rules all the time and will not be easily manipulated.

For this reason, the great masses are educated just enough to produce (i.e. be smart enough to get jobs that will sustain the economy), but no more. This is one of the reasons why consistently, in most countries, education budgets are small  and you don't see many investments in that area.

The other reason is because re-election is usually happening once in a few years (I think the longest time is 7 years for France...? you can correct me if I'm wrong). That means that in order for a politician's good deeds to be repaid in electoral capital (people voting for him), they need to return an investment for the people while he is still in office. Long-term sustained measures are usually avoided (best example: a factory that pollutes the environment will usually not be closed because the people losing their jobs will be lost as voters, even if that means that ten years later they will be lost through death). Education reform is a long-term investment - very long-term. Most of the politicians will not get to see the return of that investment.

The truth is that it is in your best interest to educate yourself, rather than allow yourself to be the puppet most rulers prefer you to be. No-one will do it for you and you can't expect other people to place your best interest above theirs. In the real world, that hardly ever happens.