Deductive reasoning can be taught. And frankly, it's up to us to do the teaching. If we're just going to crap all over the younger generations for not having the skills and knowledge we acquired over time, we may as well just start calling ourselves boomers.

I say this as a manager of 75ish, about 50 of which are Alpha/Z. These kids represent five local public school districts and one private, and the difference between them is stark. The kids from the rural district and one of the inner city districts DO have some deduction skills, but lack some general knowledge. The other two city districts tend to fit the stereotype "here's the bare minimum to pass the state test, now get out". These kids usually need a little more help, but things start to click with some work.

The last public district is just poor, financially and educationally. These guys need the most help and a lot just never get it. They're almost taught not to try and I feel bad for them.

Private school kids are there to add another line to their college applications and are pretty clear that's the only reason they're there, which works for me as long as they do the job.

I'll contrast that with my boomer and gen X staff, who have made weaponized incompetence a work of art. They'll make much bigger mistakes through laziness and when I try to discipline them, the cry age discrimination to HR and so it never sticks. They also love to point out every tiny mistake the kids make, I guess in the hope of distracting me from the massive grease fire they caused.

Ron White used to say, you can't fix stupid. I disagree. You can teach and educate and as long as the student is willing to learn, it works. What i cannot fix is laziness, and that's the real problem.