by Daniel Luzer — Washington Monthly

Virtually everywhere in the world people tend to be more educated than their parents. This is no longer true in the United States. A report by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities indicates that the U.S. is one of only two nations on Earth in which people aged 25 to 34 have lower educational attainment than their parents.

The AASCU report did not speculate on the reason for this educational decline. The cost of college tuition in the U.S. rose 7.24 percent between 1958 and 1996; the inflation rate was only 4.49 percent during the same period.

Daniel Luzer is higher education blogger for the Washington Monthly.