It used to be that bright kids would go to college and compete with other bright kids. Now there is no place for a bright kid to go. In college, he would be surrounded by grade school level competition. There is no challenge to inspire effort.
Don’t expect more than a few of our potentially bright kids to excel when morons get the same rewards.
You do know that there are still some colleges out there that place academics above sports and do not have sports scholarships?