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The problem isn't that everyone turned stupid, it's that the world changed and they didn't quite notice.

I agree, and things are still changing. The "check in the box" for a degree is still worth something, although it may not be worth what was paid. My friend up the street has a daughter in college; her grades aren't that good, and she's taking psychology or sociology or something like that.

Should she continue, my friend asked. My advice was that, with a year to go, she should stick it out if her grades are good enough to graduate. It's only a little more debt than if she dropped out after 3 years, and she'll have that credential. My friend left college after 3 years to get married, and still doesn't have a degree 20 years later. She wishes she did.

The daughter is very smart, just not very mature or motivated, at 21.

My son is 14. He likes science, but is horrible at math. He shows no inclination toward fixing things or wanting to know how things work. He enjoys his computer quite a lot but is still clueless enough to keep infesting himself with viruses and has no interest in figuring out how, why or what to do about it.

I'd like to give him good advice but honestly, I have no clue what the world is going look like even 3 years from now.