This is one of the "news" stories about those strange threatening creatures, young people, that burps back up every few years. I can remember reading something very similar in the early 70s myself, and again in the 80s and 90s, and have found instances in the 30s, 40s, and 50s in back issues of Life (hunting down ancient Life magazines being one of my little hobbies).

There are six or seven of these endlessly regurgitated stories, some dating back as far as Aristotle I bet:

"First Year university students can hardly read and write these days, they are so much more poorly educated than in my day..." and "First Year university students are freer and more intellectually open/challenging than before..."

"Young people these days just have no morals..." (these days, that would be the "hook-up" culture meme) and "Young people these days have a refreshing honesty about sex..."

"Young people are having, gasp, oral sex..." (I even have a medieval citation for that one) and "Young people are freer and less hung up than before..."

"Young people are so apathetic and don't seem to care about public affairs..." or "Young people are being corrupted into believing wrong/dangerous/stupid political things these days..." and "Young people have bowed out of a meaningless empty political process" or "Young people are engaged and changing the world..."

(You can find classical citations for both those ones)

and of course this one: "Young women these days are acting all man-like, even though they know better..." and "Young women these days are freer and and stronger than their mothers, yet fully capable of dressing for the occasion..."

The odd thing is how the story as it rises dracula like from its apparent grave, can be spun either positively or negatively. But rise from its grave it surely will.

But that you will see all of these stories again and again, at least once a decade, is about as sure as death and taxes. I'd almost like to start playing a very long slow bingo or drinking game with them (you know, the kind where when at a meeting or watching a movie, every time a certain phrase comes up you check it off or have a drink...) The problem is that this is sort of decades long kind of game.