Assuming it’s true that college students today are weaker thinkers, I wonder how much of it can be explained by the teaching profession becoming less desirable over time (in the U.S. at least). Inflation-adjusted pay has been dropping for years, from what I understand, while alternative career options for women have been improving.
Guess I’m glad I had three great English teachers in a row in high school. I remember spending 4 hours a week writing 20 sentences since the grading rubric was killer and these sentences were worth 30 percent of the entire semester’s grades!