I didn't see the freshly minted diver in the 1970s, so I can't compare.
I believe, though, that in both the 1970s and today, it depended then and depends today dramatically upon the individual instructor--which is the whole point of this thread.
I asked about averages. Do you think any individual instructor makes a difference to the average competence of newly minted OW divers?
The real question I'm trying to ask is that if you compare the average level of diver competence of divers being produced, not at the very beginning of scuba as a sport, but in the hey-day of the "OW certification takes weeks and is hard" era of training and compare that to the average level of diver competence being produced today, do you think new divers are better, worse, or about the same compared to back then? You can take "back then" to be whatever era you have experience with.
Your earlier post quoted my statement that many might argue that today's new divers are less competent than new divers from "back in the day". Your post seemed to be an attempt to refute that notion. It seemed to suggest that new divers today are more competent than (or equal in competence to) new divers from back when everyone had to go through a many-week course that was more physically demanding than today's courses and included much more time in the water. I am just seeking clarification on what you actually think.