The fuel that drove the intelligence engine was (and continues to be) education. But what of our education system and the product it produces? The College Board (a not-for-profit association that connects students with college success and opportunity) commissioned a study entitled, “Coming to Our Senses: Education and the American Future,” in order to further examine the declining rates of collegiate graduation rates in the USA. All of the facts that follow are derived from that report.

 

Whether it was the post-war GI Bill or a deeper sense of our need for higher education, the rate of Americans with college degrees mushroomed during the Baby Boomer generation. The United States is second only to the Russian Federation in the percentage of citizens between the ages of 55 and 64 with postsecondary education. But look at the generation that follows. For the generation that includes 25 to 34 year-olds, the United States trails ten other countries in terms of college degree completion – a significant slip.

 

Americans are dropping out of high school between the freshman and sophomore years at three times the rate of thirty years ago. Our graduation rate is down to 67% today as compared to 77% in the early seventies.

 

This article is too short to discuss the reasons for this decline, but what of the proposed steps to pull us out of this malaise? The short answer – an ambitious goal to ensure that by the year 2025, 55% of American youth complete a minimum of an associate’s degree (community college or in Wisconsin – Technical College). At this rate, if we can attain it, the United States will reclaim the front position in the number of college graduates as a percentage of population.

 

Easier said than done! In order to accomplish this, the College Board has created a 10-part action agenda:

1) Provide a program of voluntary preschool education, universally available to children from low-income families
2) Improve middle and high school college counseling
3) Implement the best research-based dropout prevention programs
4) Align the K-12 education system with international standards and college admissions expectations
5) Improve teacher quality and focus on recruitment and retention
6) Clarify and simplify the admissions process
7) Provide more need-based grant aid while simplifying and making financial aid processes more transparent
8) Keep college affordable
9) Dramatically increase college completion rates
10) Provide postsecondary opportunities as an essential element of adult education programs

 

It’s never too late to get started in this endeavor, but tomorrow can’t be too soon. All the other “empires” have seen their status come to an abrupt end. This is not the time to play the part of Nero – fiddling while the empire burns and crumbles. Active participation from HR professionals in this effort will be a crucial piece to the successful implementation of these measures.