The Sun is written for someone with the reading age of an average 7 year old, The Financial Times is written for someone with the reading age of an 11 year old.
The idea that you want intellectuals as privates in uniform has never been true, nor ever likely to be. The person sought is one who can be trained to follow orders.
In many cases over the centuries, the enlistment of someone in the army gave them a chance of a life, rather than an early death through malnourishment, health and welfare needs.
Unsurprising to many is the fact that the Army is able to turn out some reasonable citizens out of the dross that come out of civilisation, it doesn't always work but in majority of cases it does.