1. Seems that there is a general theme that people become famous or make money not because of brain power but because of something else.That is true. Look at the fashion industry. What bullcrap that is, but people make a lot of money. If you're gay, you probably make more. Like I should talk, as I like to bet on football.
There is still a thing call street smarts. Book smarts is not street smarts. Suppose there is a war, and a general with book smarts is up against a general with streets smarts, who will win? I don't know. But if either is up against a general with both book smarts and streets smarts, that general will win.
I think street smarts is the application of knowledge. Does not matter where you learn that knowledge from, from books, from elders, or from the mean streets of America.
America is a land of opportunity. It always has been that. It is not a land of books or book lovers.
2. Do not blame the kids today if they know nothing. The schools in America and Canada teach them nothing, or teach them very poorly.