The dilution of standards is happening at all levels. If you learned to fly in the 1950/60s the vast majority of the instructors were experienced ex wartime military instructors and what's more the basic training aircraft were aerobatic (I know because my father instructed during WW2 and continued teaching until he was 81 years!)
Any new instructors were supervised and mentored by the "oldies" and woe betide if you did things like start the engine with the tail facing towards an open hangar door! When you learned to fly you almost certainly did some basic aerobatics and certainly stalling and spinning before going solo! This produced a much more robust pilot.
Fast forward to today - modern training aircraft are (rarely) cleared for aerobatics, have benign handling characteristics and training has resorted to the "tick the box" mentality with minimal depth of understanding.
IF the airlines want to up the standards we need a "centre of excellence" along the lines of Hamble or Oxford which are not run for commercial reasons but to produce the airline pilots and commanders that the industry needs worldwide rather than contracting out to agencies and then washing their hands of any responsibility. Am not holding my breath!