You read this article from the Chicago Tribune?
This article is the biggest piece of fluff reporting I have read in a while -- and the last paragraphs debunk the entire article. I can assure you that students today are far far more accomplished than the students of my generation. I sit in absolute amazement at the presentations given by my district's high school AP biology, economics, math, etc. classes. Sorry, that isn't resultant of light teaching or grading.
Parents push their children far more than they did we I was young. Preschool was daycare when I was 3. It is now the launching pad of tremendous amount of activities. Kindergarten students are writing sentences by the end of the year. There is a high concentration of stay-at-home moms of elementary school students in my district, and most of those moms are extremely involved with the school, and their children. My district is also in the top sports division in the state -- these kids play in leagues starting at age 4 (soccer, football, baseball, track, tennis and basketball). By the time they reach middle school when the sport is school based, they are accomplished athletes. Parents are pushing their children to perform, not allowing them to walk away because they are not enamored with the sport.
I am laughing over the thought of parents in FL and TX where football (pee wee through college) is soooooooooo important. You think those parents are letting junior get away with not applying himself to that sport?
Competition for colleges is fierce, and it has nothing to do with padding grades (who the hell pads grades?).