I think it is amazing how much knowledge is available. Period. 500 years ago before Gutenberg, only the absolute elite had access to knowledge outside of their community folklore. As the cost of disseminating knowledge decreased, the level of knowledge amongst the population increased. Move forward to today, and I can access almost anything I want about anything I am interested in. Without leaving my house. And odds on, from different perspectives and different levels of complexity. During high school, it was a trip to the library, and hope (hope) that they had something there that would explain the concept. Odds are, it would be too simplistic (Encyclopedia) or too in depth (Doctorate level book). So my curiosity on the subject disappeared, often before the trip to the library, because of the level of commitment neccessary.

Now my son, 7 years old, comes home from 2nd Grade.
"Dad, we learned about the Egyptian Gods in enrichment today. Can you get me online and look up these gods?" Off to yahooligans and viola, a child who is actively learning.

Bring back a college professor who died 25 years ago and let him look at the web, he will have thought he was still in heaven.
We wonder why knowledge is expanding so greatly. Because the cost is a library card. Within the last decade, we have a mechanism through the internet, to extrapolate information to anyone quickly with an internet connection.

And they can learn anything they want, from nuclear fusion to nascar race results.

What a great time to be alive.