To first:
Take your average Joe and think how dumb he is. Then remember that half of the people are even dumber.
People have always been lazy. Children are not that lazy but usually the school system kills most encouragement kids had.
Just check how much money the government has invested into education over the past 50 years. For Germany at least they have cut the money on education for years instead of investing into the children.
USA has a 100 year old problem and nobody wanted to fix it…