I think Political Correctness started the trend of dumbing down. Lowering the bar. Warping the standards.
In every society there are citizens with varying abilities and disabilities.
The natural sorting process is achievement, self-sustaining ability and productivity.
Winners vs Slackers
Talent vs Wannabees
Healthy vs impaired
Educated vs Ignorant
Scientifically informed vs Superstitious and gullible
Clear thinkers/communicators vs "intuitive" and mystical
Productive, inventive, entrepreneurial vs scammers, boondogglers and criminals
Ask yourself this question:
WHAT IF YOU WEREN'T ALLOWED TO SEE OR NAME THESE DISTINCTIONS?
When you aren't allowed to call things AS THEY REALLY ARE you are required to change (the perception of) reality by coloring your descriptions carefully so as to avoid the unpleasant or unfortunate aspects. (Imagine not being allowed to name certain numbers, quantities or functions in arithmetic--what harm would come to measurement, computation and science?)
The movement to create SELF-ESTEEM destroyed the ability to link reality to perception of it!
Why?
It was the destructive philosophy of TELL THEM they are okay (even if they aren't) and they SHALL BE.
Excuses were made for under-achievement:
There were no more cripples, blind, retarded or ignorant people in society suddenly by fiat!
There were IMPAIRED (seeing-impaired, hearing-impaired, learning-impaired) PERSONS everywhere.
The implication being that it was merely a temporary state of being rather than INTRINSIC or ORGANIC.
Handicapped parking spots, slanted curbs for wheelchairs, inclusion of impaired persons in regular classrooms soon followed.
The school system has fallen victim. Teachers are required to have children in their class that required profound amounts of time and attention including changing diapers on 10 and 12 year old kids. Less time is availabe to tutor advanced students. Consequently, those parents who can afford to--put the advanced students in special magnet schools where they can achieve at their own pace. The public schools are drained of achievers and only the students who really could learn are left to compete with those who get the majority of teacher attention.
By treating the autistic, mongoloid or otherwise impaired child as being on the same educational level as those unimpaired by physical or mental defect (you can't even use the word "defect") the philosophical implications multiply.
The erosion of achievers begins! What use to be a competitive society becomes a society whose NEED trumps all. Genius, achievement, excellence, talent becomes a shameful contrast to those who cannot achieve. So, hiding your brains becomes social survival!
In certain ethnic communities (and not others) a shaming and shunning of those who TRY to achieve commences with social consequences!
Being smart is labelled in a bad way. (You tryin' to be white!)
The producers in the economy are labelled "FATcats" and people who earn wealth through achievement are seen as greedy bad guys.
It is all downhill as the causes and effects multiply. The destruction of achievement-oriented society is a slow poison.
When NEED is broken free from achievement and talent and hard work are punished---the Anti-Intellectual turns the evolutionary imperative upside down!
Survival of the fittest becomes survival by penalty to the fittest.
Imagine a Super Bowl where certain smaller and less talented players are allowed to make runs out-of-bounds and nobody is allowed to tackle them! What what that do to the integrity of the sport? Would it any longer even be a sport or competition? What kind of players would leave and who would be attracted as players? What impact would it have on the fan base?
Think about it.