There was a time when a person made it through a couple of grades just enough to learn reading, writing and arithmetic. Then an eight grade education was enough. Finally a High School education became the law of the land with some exceptions. The results were spectacular:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/09/upshot/the-roots-of-obamas-ambitious-college-plan.html?action=click&contentCollection=Education®ion=Footer&module=MoreInSection&pgtype=article&abt=0002&abg=1
"The roots of President Obama’s ambitious proposal for free community college can be found in a 2008 book by the economists Claudia Goldin and Lawrence Katz called “The Race Between Education and Technology.”
The book, a combination of economics and history, tells the story of how the United States built the world’s most successful economy by building its most successful education system. At the heart of that system was the universal high school movement of the early 20th century, which turned the United States into the world’s most educated country. These educated high school graduates — white-collar and blue-collar alike — powered the prosperity of the 20th century, Ms. Goldin and Mr. Katz demonstrated.
“The 20th century was the American century,” they wrote, “because it was the human-capital century.”
From the New York Times
"The proposal would cover half-time and full-time students who maintain a 2.5 grade point average — about a C-plus — and who “make steady progress toward completing a program,” White House officials said. It would apply to colleges that offered credit toward a four-year degree or occupational-training programs that award degrees in high-demand fields. The federal government would cover three-quarters of the average cost of community college for those students, and states that choose to participate would cover the remainder. If all states participate, the administration estimates, the program could cover as many as nine million students, saving them each an average of $3,800 a year.
The plan is modeled after Tennessee’s free community college program, called the Tennessee Promise, which will be available to students graduating high school this year. It has drawn 58,000 applicants, almost 90 percent of the state’s high school seniors, and more than twice as many as expected.
The program has gone a long way toward making community college attainable for all students. In addition, the proportion of applicants who are African-American and Hispanic is higher than their proportion currently enrolled in Tennessee colleges. The program is backed by the state’s Republican governor, Bill Haslam, and largely financed from lottery funds.
