Pop Culture definitely has a play in why our kids are so fucking dumb. They would'nt know who Franklin D. Roosevelt was or what happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki but I bet their ass would know who Hannah Montana was and what latests asshole won American Idol.
However I think it's mroe the parents and school's fault for not giving kids the idea that education is important and that having the latest mp3 in your ipod is not.