My post here is almost answer to your question.
Like Joel sad in the link your provided it's really bad that today they don't learn the basic in the school. But the good ones still learn, they take classes in Operating Systems and hack the linux kernel scheduler, they do projects in assembly etc ...
Most of hire in my company are just graduated, and it's impossible to pass our exams without understanding the basic, so cheer up there is still good candidates around you need to know how to find them.
