Everyone's entitled to their opinion of course but it's a fallacy to say that things have dumbed down in the modern age. . . . if anything people are more enlightened now, more tolerant and more open-minded and I wouldn't blame a modern audience going back in time to say the 1970s and watching an evening of TV squirm with embarrassment at the content on display with racist jokes, blacking up and comedians like Bernard Manning just being downright offensive. OK, maybe it was "alright in the '70s" but it sure ain't alright now.
As for education, I'm sure anyone who goes to public school today is just as well educated, if not better educated, than I was in the '70s with a wider knowledge content than was on offer to me at the time.
As for modern films not being up to par that's not my feeling at all . . . THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, GLADIATOR, SE7EN, AMERICAN GANGSTER, all the TOY STORY films, WALL-E, JERRY MAGUIRE, THE FUGITIVE, KILL BIL 1 & 2, AMERICAN BEAUTY, THE TERMINAL, IN BRUGES, THE TRUMAN SHOW, THE GREEN MILE, THE SIXTH SENSE, AMERICAN HISTORY X, DIE HARD, THE TERMINATOR 1 & 2, LEON, PREDATOR, LOST IN TRANSLATION, COLLATERAL, CATCH ME IF YOU CAN, GONE BABY GONE, ABOUT A BOY, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, STAND BY ME (not counting a host of foreign language films) are just a small selection of modern-ish films that should stand the test of time and are definitely not all "dumb".