Lowering the entrance requirements will not help people to validate, and lowering validation standards will not help people when they are in control of a bad situation turning worse. And intelligence is not really what is tested, more the aptitude for the job.
I can count the number of people on one hand who actually understand and have heard of the job we do. Maybe if there was a lot more publicity about what ATC is then there would be plenty more applicants. Maybe some sort of "The Controller Factor" programme is needed with Cheryl Cole commenting on ones abilities.