After teaching undergraduates for years and raising 4 kids in our “American public school system”, I no longer think our kids have the logical/mental capacity to make determinations between two conflicting sets of data. Three sets will floor them.
This disgusting situation began when classes became enormous in size, when kids weren’t separated according to ability (yes, there is a reason for that and it is NOT racial), when parents were not encouraged to interact with the teacher/school as they tried to assist their kids, when entitlement was the norm, and most importantly when deductive reasoning was no longer taught. We are back to witches, fairies, goblins and external loci of control coupled with inductive logic.
We, one and all, have been sucked into the vortex of the sound bites, television, internet of games.
Another simple truth is that affluence promotes laziness and a loss of survival skills.
You're seeing both of these influences at work here in the United States today. I give us 20 years (at most) before the whole thing collapses -- which will be a good thing because the U.S. lost its moral claim to any right to exist decades ago.
The only question will be: What comes next?