Thanks for bringing up that equation, Alex. When I said a "cake walk", Paul, I was talking about the opportunity variable. And I absolutely agree with you that culture drives the other two variables, which would otherwise be static across large populations (ability in terms of education, not raw ability). But that's my point. I'm blaming the culture. I'm saying that China and India and many other "first generation" cultures have more motivation to learn than this current "fourth generation" American culture, and that's driving their abilities.

Don't get me wrong, America has a top 10% which is incredibly well-educated and motivated. My concern, and I think the concern in the article, is not for that 10% but instead for the other 90% who are leaving high school with neither abilities nor the motivation to get them. Worse, the opportunities which came so easily for their parents and grandparents are waning. This leaves 90% of a generation about to face a situation where the performance they can expect from their lives is: little times less times not much at all.