I actually don’t think so - the dumbing down admittedly began in the late 60s - remember the ORIGINAL new math. However - the school systems really didn’t start getting bad from my perspective until around 1980ish.
Further - by that point - lead was out of the gas supply for the majority of cars! What percentage of cars were using leaded gas in 1985?
***What percentage of cars were using leaded gas in 1985?***
Lots of them! Leaded gas was still cheaper than unleaded so people were reaming out the smaller size gas blocker and using leaded gas in their unleaded vehicles.
Leaded gas tanks had a large opening to fill the tank.
Unleaded gas had a smaller opening to prevent use of the larger leaded dispenser.
So some individuals made and sold a plastic converter piece to fit over the leaded dispenser converting it to the smaller unleaded dispenser.
Others just took a crow bar or other item and reamed out the hole in the unleaded tank.
I never bought a used car or truck, in the 1980s, that did not have the unleaded opening reamed out.