T Time: Ep. 8

Education statistics show flat & declining performance against increasing graduation, suggesting diminishing standards & higher grade inflation. Meanwhile, there are fewer college enrollments generally, and among those relatively low participation in STEM fields, but STEM jobs are in the highest current and future demand, and STEM jobs have higher income and lower unemployment than other job categories. American students get out of high school and college learning less math than students in other similarly situated countries. Schools are roughly as violent or more so than they were in past decades. All of this is happening against the backdrop of increasing global competition, increasing domestic economic and political chaos, and decreasing American competitiveness. Rational people would reassess their commitments to education, and they would take note of the various advantages that improving knowledge and skills comes with. Economically, there are few options to retain the high output the US has enjoyed, but few are politically, socially, or culturally supported at scale. Individual experiences, when added together, result in the collective condition, so it would take the cooperation of millions of people or realignment of principles and values of millions of people, which is unlikely, but if Americans were to adapt and change with the times, that would be most beneficial to themselves and others in the country.