Mathematicians (and Dijkstra qualifies as one) have been bemoaning the lack rigour in undergraduate education for some time now. (Aye, even as early as the French vs. English trigonometry textbook debates of the 1800s.) The United States has a peculiar cultural mismatch between the relative quality of secondary and undergraduate education, which in my mind causes most of the drama. In particular, EWD1036 was written during Dijkstra's career at UT Austin.

I'd like to know if this phenomena is global, though.