Alternate pronunciation uprising?

[RafaelBlock]

It was bad enough during the early weeks of the US invasion of Iraq to
hear poor, uneducated soldiers referring to a 'cachet' of weapons being
discovered instead of a 'cache', then to hear supposed news anchors
picking up the mistaken pronunciation, but now:

it seems that every word with an alternate pronunciation MUST be spoken
with the alternate: in the last month I've heard

formidable
Himalayan
Herculean

and several others I can't recall this minute pronounced on the news
with the secondary pronunciation. Is this just an attempt at affecting a
learned voice or am I falling behind the times?

[Tom]

It is a failing of our educational system. I know several teachers and if a
student does poorly, the system sees it as a reflection on the teacher's
ability and not the responsibility of the student or the parents. Therefore,
the teachers pass the students even when they don't know the material.