Kids coming out of high school 50 years ago were probably more educated that (some) college graduates today.
That's the major difference. Previously, schools were instituted to teach young people how to think. Now, their purpose is to teach young people WHAT to think.
I earned my liberal arts degree (BA in musicology) 40 years ago, back in the day when one's curriculum included required courses in science, mathematics, history (NOT social studies), philosophy, a language (3 years), as well as your major. No such courses like "Feminist Environmental Justice".
My degree was worth every penny. The major didn't pan out to much of a career, but the underlying coursework taught me how to think critically and also how to write (guess all those term papers using Turabian's Guide was worth something!).
My college education also helped me in my eventual career field of software engineering (did you know musicians make excellent programmers?). Down the road a ways, I also earned my MBA...
MOST