Under a thin layer of deceptive apparent normality, a tragic cultural suicide is under way by massive de-alphabetization of the population due to a severe lowering of the general knowledge base of the elite, caused by a decades long out of control degradation of the education system.

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The failure through ignorance of proper pedagogy by Quebec's pedagogues to address the critical need for children to be taught to read and write properly before the end of the first year of primary school resulted after 40 years of neglect in 50% of Quebec's active population being categorized as functionally illiterate in 2003 by the OECD despite systematic scholarization up to junior high school, with worse figures yet now taking shape for 2012.

The closing down in the 1960's of all traditional teachers training schools without integrating their high quality training programs into the university based replacement training faculties, combined with forced specialization starting at the beginning of senior high school at the expense of teaching a wide general knowledge base, resulted in all of the current Quebec elite having a general knowledge base not exceeding that of junior high school level of the rest of America, which severely hampers their ability to resolve social issues.

What is happening in Quebec should be a warning to all societies inclined to favor early specialization in their school system at the expense of the acquisition of a wide general knowledge base in secondary school.