Education is the transmission of civilization.
How did the U.S.become the world’s largest economy? A key part of the answer iseducation. Some 85% of adult Americans have at least a high schooldegree today, up from just 25% in 1940. Similarly, 28% have a collegedegree, a fivefold gain over this period. Today’s U.S. workforce is themost educated in the world.
But now, for thefirst time ever, America’s educational gains are poised to stallbecause of growing demographic trends. If these trends continue, theshare of the U.S. workforce with high school and college degrees maynot only fail to keep rising over the next 15 years but could actuallydecline slightly, warns a report released on Nov. 9 by the NationalCenter for Public Policy & Higher Education, a nonprofit groupbased in San Jose, Calif.
The key reason: As highly educated babyboomers retire, they’ll be replaced by mounting numbers of youngHispanics and African Americans, who are far less likely to earndegrees.
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Even with No Child,backsliding already has happened in Texas, the laboratory PresidentGeorge W. Bush used for the law when he was governor of the state.
Why?
The Lone Star State’s Hispanic population is exploding. Becauseminority students are far more likely to drop out of high school, Texasnow ranks dead last among the 50 states in the percentage of adults whohave a high school degree. That’s down from 39th in 1990.