Just focusing on the title, and not the actual rest of the OP post, I would say...

Hmmm.

As much as I think this was a "IT'S A TRAP!!" moment to drag non Americans in to slag you guys off, I have to say no, not stupid. I feel like a huge lot has just for better words "given up". Standards of intelligence lower, and then what happens when those that have just given up teach the next wave? Those are the results you're seeing. Potential IS there. It's the same in lots of countries. The fact is, i don't know if what half of what's said in this topic is true or not, heck I haven't even read half of what's in this topic (or any of it...). People have been taught not to question, and don't question being taught not to question. Anyone questioning in their eyes is mentally ill or a traitor. You could be 100% wrong, but not having the intelligence to understand that you should and CAN question things is worrying. What's worse is when you KNOW something is a lie and don't question it and all your actions/output imply you accept it as the truth because that's what you've been taught.

It isn't fun waking up to the lies all around you. People will think you're nuts, and sometimes you may indeed go nuts and start seeing the lies even where they're not because the true lies become too much to bare. I'll stop mumbling now.