I always wondered why schools stopped teaching grammar. Hadn't realized they also stopped teaching foreign languages. Diagramming sentences was de rigueur back when I was in elementary school. I remember checking out a worksheet that a friend's kid brought home from school several years ago. It was supposed to help him memorize "sight words." Sight words? It's certainly not a part of speech I've ever heard of. But apparently, they're designed to help children learn to read.

But it definitely seems as if education has been "dumbed down" over the years. At least that's the impression I get based on some of the writing I see these days. And the fact that some schools are opting out of teaching foreign languages is a shame. It just makes for a more closed off, insular society that can be manipulated with false narratives about people who don't speak English.