>Though, in my opinion, education quality has gone down.

What would you think if I told you I graduated in the 1990s and I felt the same way? Where would that put you?

>there was a boy who couldn't read aloud a text without stumbling.

There could be other reasons for that, like fear of public speaking.

Maybe you were in a pessimistic period in your life and I am the same way now.

He didn't fear much. He was a bully.

Honestly I never bought into the stories that the current generation is full of dummies. It's mostly news hype made to make you feel superior about yourself. Those stories are amping up here in the US about Millenials. It's all BS.

Bullies are normally very insecure themselves which is why they shine the spotlight on others. Speaking as a former bully.

A stutter is a disability not a sign of lack of intelligence/education.

He didn't stutter when speaking. He just couldn't read as fast as he was talking so he had to stop every few syllables.

In other words, he was 17 and couldn't read fluently. But he wasn't stupid. He was quite conscientious about his side business and bookkeeping.

ps: I stuttered when I was a child.

The English word you want is not stutter, but stumble. Stutter (or stammer) is a medical condition, stumbling over words is the result of a poor quality education.

Thank you, I edited my original comment.

Not a problem. English is an easy language to begin, but a very hard one to master.

I knew the correct word and expression, I just didn't have it in mind at the right time ^^

I've read and written in English everyday for 10 years. I just can't speak it. One day I realized most news article I read were only translations of other articles. So I decided to skip the middle man.

Any chance he's dyslexic or similar? That description kind of sounds like it.

>He just couldn't read as fast as he was talking so he had to stop every few syllables.

Is that your professional medical opinion?

No. But it's the opinion of someone who spent 6 to 8 hours a day during three years with the person in question. He couldn't read. When he read in his head he mouthed the words.

> I don't know if this would have happened in the past.

Let us assume the answer is no for the sake of argument. Does that necessarily mean the quality of education has dropped? Not necessarily. It could mean that 30 years ago this boy would have failed to graduate.

This doesn't mean that the education was any better then, only that the requirements for graduation are lower now. The top and average students today might be leaving with better knowledge and skills than 30 years ago even if the very bottom looks "worse" because fewer people are pushed out entirely. Perhaps the value of the diploma itself diminishes as a result of this, but that doesn't mean the actual education has diminished.

Of course it's also very likely that there have always been people graduating like this.

All good points :)