In a way I'd say yes, since smartness is a hybrid of latent intelligence and how well a person knows the system they live in. The younger generation is not as

In a way I'd say yes, since smartness is a hybrid of latent intelligence and how well a person knows the system they live in. The younger generation is not as smart in the critiqued author's system, so from the author's perspective they are relatively dumb. However, their objective dumbness is really a function of the effectiveness of the system they are a part of vs the effectiveness of the author's system.