Are people dumber than 50 years ago?

Yes, for the last 50 years the less intelligent have been reproducing at a higher rate than the more intelligent. There is no question that people are on average dumber than they were 50 years ago.

The IQ distribution has widened, too, because the smartest people are getting even smarter.

A hundred years ago a really intelligent guy might run a hardware store and marry a local girl of average intelligence. A really intelligent girl might marry a local baker of average intelligence. In both cases their children would be a little more intelligent than average.

But for the last several decades the really intelligent men and women have been going off to college -- maybe an Ivy League school which used to require real smarts -- and finding each other there. Their children were very intelligent.

But for the last several decades the really intelligent men and women have been going off to college

I'm not so sure I agree with you about that at all. Maybe that applies to your kids, not so much the ones I see on vids.

None of my children went to a big name school that would have historically required a high IQ to get into. One went off to study sacred music a little Christian college up North (I tried to talk her out of it), and a couple went to the local technical college here to study a health care related subject in a field that requires a license from the state to work in. (And of course they have it sewed up so that you can't get the license without the degree.)

For most of the last 50 years, few 130+ IQ kids didn't go off to college. They did, and they found mates there. And they had smart kids.

But in the last several years the quality and value of a college education have drastically deteriorated. So much so that some really smart people are choosing not to go. Today the Higher Education Industrial Complex is for the most part a total scam, and I recommend to kids that don't go and waste four or more of the best years of their lives and lots of money getting a less-than-worthless communistic brainwashing. When I went to college 40 years ago, I guessed that about 70% of the students didn't belong in college. Today my guess would be about 92% don't belong there. Because they're studying something totally worthless, or studying something they could learn outside of college (e.g on-line study, on-the-job training, apprenticing), or because they're just not smart enough. Not everyone should try to box Muhammad Ali.

Unequivocally, YES.

For all the reasons listed above, and for the general dumbing-down that the "great society" brought with teaching down to the most stupid kid in the class. No more "advanced" classes, 'cause that would be rayciss don'tcha know?