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Standardized testing usually computes some sort of "linguistic" score as part of its results. Therefore, we are used to equating a command of the English language as being synonymous with high intelligence. The ACT, for example, is basically a math and English test. The same for SAT, ITBS, etc., etc.
As American schools seem to be on the downslide, it's very convenient to point out a decline in English as symptomatic of the general destruction of American society from within. And also, it's easy to suggest that returning to the basic old "readin', ritin', and rithmetic" would be the way to stop the bleeding.
Read Howard Gardner, and his creation of a testing instrument that measures eight different types of human intelligence (not just two). According to him, every human on the planet exists some level of intelligence in linguistic skills, math skills, music skills, spatial-reasoning skills, body-kinesthetic skills, interpersonal skills, intrapersonal skills, and naturalistic skills. Each person's skill "persona" could be represented by a unique peak-meter (similar to a stereo EQ display). A lawyer, for example, would have high linguistic and interpersonal skills. A carpenter would have high math, body-kinesthetic, and spatial-reasoning skills.
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Living is easy with eyes closed.
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