Must disagree with you a bit.
“Smart” implies intellectual capability - I don’t think the article was condemning these students as being incapable of mastering the material presented at the collegel level. The High Schools are lowering the bar, such that the dumbest (most intellectually challenged) can graduate with a minimum of effort. This handicaps everyone, because those who are intellectually gifted never get to ‘push themselves’ to see what they truly can accomplish.
As a result, because everyone in High School must trudge along at the rate of the lowest denominator; when they get to the college level - they are woefully behind what the average college student is expected to know.
I experienced this first hand; my High School’s qualifications for our Math Department was a strong background in Physical Education (pronounced “Football”). Our Math teacher did not comprehend basic Algebra - we would spend many sessions of school each week going back and correcting lessons in which he had been babbling about a lesson he did not understand. So, despite getting an ‘A’ in Algebra in the late 70’s; I had to take remedial math in college (Pre-Calculus). And that was many years ago. I’m sure it’s even worse now
My daughter’s geometry teacher in high school was a football coach. Didn’t know anything about geometry. My daughter realized this and basically taught herself. She got As but she deserves the credit - not her “teacher”.