I know I was taught to think and established an inquiring mind; I fear you may be correct: it is now easier to let others do your thinking. Of course the elite are sending their kids to schools that are supposedly teaching them to think; if Harvard economists are any indication, that is a failure also.
AOC graduated from Boston Univ and studied economics - knows nothing about that or much of anything else. I graduated from BU in '66 and told them at that time that they had failed to educate me.
The beat goes on. OTOH, many here on FR seem able to seek out answers - as you imply, there must be a concerned remnant.
Cloward-Piven tactics and deceptively sophisticatedly-named Critical Theory (i.e., the craven and sociopathic and anti-democratic “theory” that being overwhelmingly and, if necessary, entirely unfairly critical toward any given thing one dislikes can, over time at least, be sufficient to force a change in that thing or away from that thing) are two of the most brutally stupid but surprisingly successful (read:destructive) products of evil minds among U.S. “academics” during the past 75 years. Anyone associated with the Frankfurt School should have been shunned outright by self-respecting colleagues but were instead lionized. This country can barely wipe its own rear end anymore when considered from an academic standpoint.