the sorry state of the american educational system is legendary, as well known as the abysmal condition of its medical system, compared to the rest of the industrialized world. if socialism was responsible for educational ignorance (which is no doubt what you are soooo subtly alluding to), then all those european and asian social democracies and canada would be just as screwed up, n'est-ce pas, not to mention the educational programs of many socialist and formerly socialist countries? they are not. nope, this is just another example of american exceptionalism. personally, i think the problem is high school sports and not wearing school uniforms, but i don't expect many americans would agree with that.

but to be fair, that photograph may mean a lot to you old farts, but you have to remember it was taken before the parents of most adults today were born, in fact, before the grandparents of many of today's adults were born! i bet none of the soldiers in that photo could recognize any of the iconic images of the franco-prussian war, either.