The problem started > 30yrs ago when they promoted bilingualism in schools instead of allowing the students to concentrate on (and excel in) the one language. You are witnessing the results today.
The teachers teaching English in schools today can't even get it right...what hope is there for the students?
Played Scrabble and Boggle with a couple of teacher acquaintances of mine and even they didn't know the meaning of some of the words I had constructed - and those words weren't even esoteric by any stretch of the imagination.
