An interesting phenom that the sociologists call: the latent functions of schooling. So, I always start out the first day of class telling them that college is a big warehouse where young people are stashed for awhile, creating an army of people willing to work in dead-end jobs. They don't believe me. Then I ask 'em to imagine what would happen if everyone just decided to drop out and get 'real' jobs. Acccch! Could this be a strategy for revolution?
The 40% are dropping out for a variety of reasons: ill equipped skill-wise, uncertain what they want to do, demoralized by juggling a job and school and maybe a young family or helping take care of their family of origin. 50% of the pop goes to college; 25% of the pop graduates (probs of course as these are rates) It appears that more and more folks are going to college, but 25% rate is the same as it was in the 60s. Get 'em all there, reinforce their already strong commitment to meritocratic individualism and then create conditions under which they believe that it's their fault that they couldn't make it. In turn, create a new generation of anti-intellectuals who HATE academia. Very functional for the contemporary manifestation of capitalism, no?
Kelley