The sad reality is that America has been dumbed down and is in decline. Massive amounts of expenditures have been futile and cannot compensate for a decline in character and values.
That being said, you can't expect today's students to do any better than their parents. This process of dumbing down has been slouching along toward the abyss for nearly fifty years, http://www.deliberatedumbingdown.com/pages/reviews4.html.
The next time you visit friends, look around and see if you can spot any intellectually challenging reading material in evidence. Are your friend's children even present or are they zoned out, playing video games? While your at it, check your own kids and see what they are reading or are they spending all their free time on their computer? How much of that time is spent on "Social Networking", tweeting, texting? Any chance that a serious thought might intrude into their cocoon like existence?
Regards,
GtG