For decades, parents and educators alike have stressed the importance of staying in school. Recent data shows that this emphasis actually worked — but that doesn’t mean that students actually learned anything when they were there.

According to The Economist, high school graduation rates have skyrocketed in recent years. As of 2020, the graduation rate was 87% — a massive leap from the 74% seen just over a decade prior.

But what are students gaining from all this education? Certainly not brains. Alongside this rise in graduation rates has come a notable decline in SAT test scores and flat or declining scores in things like math and reading. The Economist speculates that this could mean schools are artificially lowering their standards to let students graduate who might actually need more education.

The article also argues that those who benefit from having an easier grading curve may actually suffer from it in the long term. Those who are given “easy A’s” graduate, but tend to put in less effort and show up to class less often than in schools with stricter grading systems.

Naturally, this is just one theory to explain what’s going on. Other theories include “brain fried by TikTok,” “brain fried by ChatGPT,” and “brain fried by engineered food.” In short, we’re doing just fine!