Although I also think a lot of common sense has been taken out of the discipline codes as well. When I was in high school if you brought a water gun to school generally the worst thing that happened was a detention, usually the teacher just confiscated it and didn't return it. Now it can get you suspended because it is a gun.

Perhaps,those of us who attended schools sent by parents who demanded nothing but our best, had a big advantage over todays TV and coarsened culture-raised kids, often with parents who are quick to blame the schools instead of supporting them. Having taught in both environments since 1962,I can say that things are not the same - politically driven agendas, broken homes, victim attitudes, my kid is perfect, unearned self esteem games, massive numbers of special education kids, ADHD, and on and on.

Still, it does show hints of turning the corner now and then.

But I agree that return on investment is a huge infuence.

When I got my MS degree almost 20 years ago it was less than $1,000 a semester. At the same institution it is somewhere in the $6,000 range. So a degree that was roughly $2,000 and very doable without the need for loans now costs about $24,000 and comes with a loan in addition to whatever was borrowed for the undergraduate degree.

I imagine the 30-34 cohort is still paying off their undergraduate degrees and aren't looking to take on more debt-especially since those in this cohort are also usually at the age when having kids has begun-not always a good time to take on debt and the responsibility of getting a degree.

I doubt this has much to do with how we raise our kids or how high schools don't prepare them well. By the time they are in college they will make their own choices and economics will play a large role.

High Schools were actual training schools or as they are now called in Seattle -"magnet schools". Boston English (lit/arts) Boston Tech (Technical arts-drafting, etc) Boston Commerce (Business) and then the so-called "trade" schools...East Boston High (automotive) Brighton High (automotive and metal works) and so on.
As I look back on it it becomes obvious that certain high schools were actually Voc-Ed schools.

Pretty slick. I went to Boston Tech High to be an architect- wound up with a BS in Pre-Med courtesy of the USAF. Go figure.

I think one reason students don't graduate is that they aren't looking towards the future and school itself is becoming very "everyone needs to go to college" focused. If you have a student who doesn't excel academically and they are in a school where non college options aren't strongly provided and supported, the result is kids who don't care about their educations now or in the future. They give up=school is a social opportunity and that is it.

Not every kid is suitable for college. Some would be better suited in a vocational or technical program. I think high schools would do better to steer kids uninterested in college into suitable programs. Some schools are starting to head this direction again. My sister has a niece uninterested in school who will have her cosmotology certification when she graduates from high school.

One significant factor is legal & illegal Third Worlders who have no desire to assimilate. The legal immigrant component then sees that the illegal immigrant component have taken all the entry-level jobs. This phenomenon is called being "Doubly Screwed".

The other component: inner city dropout youth (black or white) get tempted into illegal activities by the glamor of the gang-banger and drug cultures. This phenomenon is called "Screwing Yourself".

Neither the parents, nor the educators, nor the politicians see anything wrong with the above situations. This phenomenon is called "Screw it".

For the last several years it's been more prudent to find a job in the construction trades than to pursue a college degree.

With the exception of health care salaries have been pretty flat in most technical fields for the last seven or eight years. In many of those years the number of jobs created for electrical engineers, for example, grew by nearly precisely the number of H1-B visas for electrical engineeers in that year.

Health care degree programs (physicians, nursing, technicians) have waiting lists.

In 2006, Americans aged 55-59 collectively possessed more masters degrees, professional degrees and doctorates than Americans aged 30-34.”

Collectively? Not proportionally? That a generation born during high birth rates has collectively more of anything than a generation born during low birth rates would surprise anybody is the real shocker here.

I submit that the one thing that comes as clear about all of this is that our definition of what constitutes 'education" has changed over the last 60 years. As such and as a first effort, we'd better define "educated". In short, define please, what we're aiming for.