conjectural navel gazing; jesus in lint form

I took the quiz back when Jorge posted it and got 'high school'.

Dumbing-down is a problem. Have you seen the test for high-schoolers from 100 years ago that's online? It's humbling. (With my learning style/disabilities I'm terrible at maths and word problems anyway. That's just innate.) And I've read that the Lincoln-Douglas debate in 1860 was at a grade-11/fifth-form level; today political debates are at a grade-6 level.

That said, as somebody in the newspaper biz at a low level (one of the joys of my job is I make sure stilted press-release rubbish is never printed; I translate it into real English, saying what the person is trying to say only better) I can tell you that a sixth-grade level (for example - that's the level of broadsheet American papers; tabloids are written at a fourth-grade level) can mean your copy is clear/easy to understand and is not necessarily a bad judgement of the intellectual level or merit of the message. You're doing what you're supposed to: communicate!

Which I think applies to your and my places.

P.S. It's like the challenge of writing good kid-lit: clarity without condescension (not dumbing down the ideas/message). Or as Trish might tell you, doing a good stage show for all ages.