the level of knowledge of our citizens has steadily decreased in the last 40 years and that we rank among the lowest of countries in the world in general knowledge

Another bunch of mullarky. My advice to the author is to spend a minute researching facts before spouting off.

Latest estimates almost always rank the US in anywhere for 15th to 25th place in intelligience, IQ, etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IQ_and_the_Wealth_of_Nations

20th in this one.

I heard one as recent as 3 weeks ago that put the US at 22. The funny thing was, we were in the top 3 in "self-esteem". So we think we are smarter than we are.

Any way you parse the numbers though, we are FAR from ranking among the "lowest of countries in the world in general knowledge".

We are not as dumb as you presume us to be.