"Much of the recent media attention on higher education has focused on

allegations about the declining quality of the educational experience,

including claims of ‘soft-marking’, declining academic standards and the
‘dumbing down’ of courses" (Department of Education, Australia).

"Australia needs nothing less than a revolution in education - a substantial

and sustained increase in the quantity of our investment, and the quality of
our education," Mr Rudd says in the paper. "This is required at every level of
education from early childhood to mature age." (The Australian, January 23,
2007).

"The Declining Quality of Mathematics Education in the US" (Jedidiah Jan 26 08

2007) "Mathematics education seems to be very subject to passing trends -
surprisingly more so than many other subjects. The most notorious are, of
course, the rise of New Math in the 60s and 70s, and the corresponding
backlash against it in the late 70s and 80s. It turns out that mathematics
education, at least in the US, is now subject to a new trend, and it doesn't
appear to be a good one."

"A study released Thursday (December 16, 2005) by the U.S. Department of
Education shows that only 25% of college graduates were “proficiently
literate,” that is, “using printed and written information to function in society,
to achieve one’s goals, and to develop one’s knowledge and potential.” The
results show a dramatic decline from 1992, the last year surveyed prior to this
study. “This seems like another piece of hard evidence, a fairly clear
indication, that the ‘value added’ that higher education gave to students
didn’t improve, and maybe declined, over this period,” said Charles Miller, the
former University of Texas regent who is heading the U.S. education
secretary’s Commission on the Future of Higher Education." (Fighting
Stupidity)