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I have an advanced degree in a hard science and have spent the better part of the last 15 years in an academic setting as a researcher and as a consultant. The 20 years prior to that I worked as a manager/planner in an industrial environment. In my view the students entering college today are just as smart, prepared, and motivated as they were when I was an undergrad back in the 70s. What has changed is the skill set that is second nature to today's kids - computing has so radically changed the structure of society, education, and work that most of the stuff old timers like you and me struggled to learn simply doesn't have any applications. Why memorize something when you've got the sum of civilization's knowledge literally at your fingertips? You are far better off learning how to access information as you need it and learning some critical thinking skills to interpret what you've found.

Granted, because of my field the students I encounter are science types to begin with, so my experience is limited in that regard - but I know some pretty sharp young people and I'm comfortable thinking that someday they'll be in leadership and decision-making positions.

I will grant you that kids are smarter because of the Internet, but researching skills don’t translate into mechanical skills. Example: Measuring the torque applied to an object.

The three students in the lab were setting up this experiment. They read the directions, set up every thing according to directions, but they could not get a reading of the torque. They called over my TA instructor friend. He took one look and asked them where the cord used in the setup was? Puzzled looks. The TA had to explain the experiment was to measure torque on an item and the cord was necessary to connect the measuring equipment. Stunned looks.

Moral: All read the instructions and followed the setup, except they left out the most critical item to complete the experiment. The problem is not so much brilliance, but lack of attention to detail and mechanical ability.