If one in four are failing the exam, it reflects poorly on our society much more so than the military; I would be more concerned if everyone passed. A high failure rate shows that our military does have standards. I took the exam as a high school senior and thought it was fairly easy, although I did miss a few questions. I think the exam is a good exam for its purpose; it is by no means a cakewalk, especially if you don't prep for it. I have helped a couple of kids prepare for the exam and I would bet you that if the average college graduate walked off the street and took the exam you would have some failures.
A few things:
Re: "(basic questions such as 2 + x = 4)"...it is not fair to pick perhaps the easiest question on the exam to illustrate your point.
To the person that said people join the military because they have no other options. Joining the military these days means you have a chance at dying...you would have to have very choices to choose that option.
To the person that said the military is full of dumb people because they are easy to indoctrinate. I quess the German people and Japanese people prior to WWII were all stupid. The next time you use a World Wide Web (Internet), digital camera, cell phone, microwave, GPS device...
Canned Food
Plastic Surgery
Trench Coat
Air Traffic Control
Low light Photography
Space Exploration
Weather satellite
Nuclear Power and Nuclear medicine
Radar
Jaws of Life
Blood Transfusion
Computer Networks
Programming Languages such as ADA, COBOL
etc., etc.