I&#x27;m always a bit skeptical of these claims, given that as far as I can tell, at least three to four years of the K-12 &quot;education&quot; are completely wasted on repeating old material.  I don&#x27;t even think it&#x27;s a matter of intelligence: we can do a bunch more with the <i>non</i>-gifted children than we even <i>attempt</i>.<p>Hell, I&#x27;ve heard of professional adults not knowing how to use a linear function to estimate basic financial costs from a baseline and a per-unit cost.<p>The intellectual standards we expect from people are appallingly low compared to what they&#x27;re actually capable of.