Also historically, many, many children have been thrown out of school or deemed ineducable because they couldn't sit still in school and behave themselves.
Similarly, the average high schooler was better back then because the average person stopped their education at the eighth grade, if not sooner.
(Note to non-Americans: In the US, high school runs from ninth to twelfth grade, usually named freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior years.)
This is true, you know. Or are you saying only Americans can do arithmetic?