That assumes a college education implies graduates are better educated than children in my generation who merely graduated from High School... It does not necessarily mean they are better educated than those of a few generations back, though, as you implied using your citation.
Are you seriously implying that the average college graduate today with a bachelor's degree is less educated than the average high school graduate in your generation? What decade did you graduate from high school? I'm just curious when this "golden age" of education occurred.
To be fair, several decades ago I took a test that was given in the late 1800's which was given to 8th or 9th graders and which must be passed in order for them to get their diplomas. I failed miserably!
Are you aware of the fact that only about 7% of young adults graduated with high school diplomas in the late 1800s?
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs93/93442.pdf
Based on that historical fact it's clear that the average young adult today has a vastly superior education compared to someone in the late 1800s. As to why you failed miserably on the test, did it ever dawn on you that perhaps it's because you're simply not as intelligent as you thought?