Eric Yost provides statistics from a variety of sources. I just am not sure what they show. Perhaps they show that Americans are not the smartest people in the world? Or they show that American students don't do the best in standardized testing? Perhaps I am just being stubborn, but I don't think this information proves what Eric thinks it proves. I barely passed out of high school. I would have easily fallen under Eric's 'stupider' category except, and here I may simply be under one of those delusions we occasionally feed ourselves, I don't think I exactly fit that category. Statistics regarding tests results gives me information about how well students take particular tests, but 'stupider', especially when this involves failure to appreciate Schiller and Beethoven, seems to be a beast of a different nature. I am too tired to work this out in more detail, so I will simply repeat myself: I don't think the claim that kids are stupider has anything to do with intelligence or quality of education but functions rather as a commentary on popular culture. It is connected to the belief that popular music, whether it is Top 40 or Metal, is by definition not 'good' music, that whatever kids are writing on their computers or cellphones can't be literature, and that a lack of appreciation for Bach and Mahler is necessarily a lack of good taste. I think this is an unfortunate perspective since it closes the individual off from the possibility of finding good art in unexpected places. Again, I would want to know what, if anything, follows from the 'more stupider' judgment. Sincerely, Phil Enns Yogyakarta, Indonesia ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html