The Class of 2007 posted the lowest SAT averages in several years, according to scores released this morning.

Now part of the reason is related to recent immigration:

The share of test-takers for whom English is a second language has nearly doubled in 20 years to 24 percent

I think a bigger reason is that the "economic strategy" of recent years has been moving the US towards more of a low wage, low productivity economy. Why should US students bother to achieve academically when the bulk of investment is in areas like meat packing plants, Walmart or the expanding underground economy—and those skilled jobs that do exist in the US are likely to be subject to immigration practices like H-1b which mean foreigners will be given immigration preferences if they can get an American job?

What I think we are seeing are the fruits of perverse economic incentives in the US that no country could maintain without massive foreign borrowing.